Part one-The revenge of shinra
by Zida
Summary: The team seek out extra help to save the world again


Part 3  
  
"Are you going to be fast? I don't want to be waiting for you out here, in the dark." Two figures stepped out of the buggy that was parked nearby a small town, among the trees. The moon shone on the small building ahead of them. Suddenly, a bright torch light flared in front of one of the figures. The light swung around to the other figure, revealing a young woman, fumbling with her own flashlight. She was a brunette, thin-framed and in her early twenties. She looked up and shielded her eyes from the glare.   
"Cloud! Get it out of my face! How am I supposed to see when you're blinding me like that?" The beam swung again and the other torch came on.   
"Explain to me again, Tifa, why exactly have we come here?" The woman tossed her hair back and put her hands on her hips. 'Why, indeed,' Tifa thought. "Why do we have to call upon an 18-year-old girl for assistance?' Tifa walked up next to her companion, Cloud. 'The girl,' she thought, 'is our last hope, on this, our latest mission.' Tifa smiled to herself, thinking about how Cloud had quickly disagreed with asking young Eveva Diego for help. "Cloud! Tifa! Wait! I want to go with you!" Tifa and Cloud turned quickly, swinging their torch beams onto the figure bouncing out of the bushes. Tifa sighed in relief.  
"Cait Sith! It's dark, and you're sneaking around. Are you crazy even being out here at night?" Cait Sith, a little grey and white cat who rode around on the back of a huge white Mog, pulled his mahogany coloured cape over his face, shielding himself from the light.  
"Well, look at you two. Besides, I only came because Eveva might know where Yuffie is, and I want my megaphone back."   
Cloud crossed his arms and looked at the strange little animal. "We can get you another megaphone. What's so special about that megaphone?"  
"It has significant sentimental value." he replied in a voice that deserved sympathy. "Now, if you will, those lights are hurting my eyes."   
Cloud shrugged and began walking towards the town. Tifa turned and watched as Cait Sith collected himself and bounced over, falling into step with Tifa. Cloud turned back towards them as he reached the outskirts.  
"Which house was it?" Tifa pointed to a small building at the end of an elevated wooden walkway.   
Cait Sith looked around. "So, how do we get up there?"   
Cloud glanced around and walked over to a flight of stairs. "This way, I guess."   
Tifa put her hands on her hips as she looked around at the other buildings. Mideel didn't take up much space, despite the amount of buildings. Most of them were either on top of each other, or along small bridges or paths. Since the original foundations were unstable, the townspeople had rebuilt on a different part of the island. 'We need names for these darned islands,' Tifa thought, looking up into the star-filled sky. 'Even if we just named them by their direction from the center of a map, or the largest city on them, it would be a lot easier than just saying, you know the place, or, the place that is this way from wherever.'  
"Tifa! Stop daydreaming and hurry up!" Tifa shook her head quickly and ran up the stairs after her two companions. Cloud knocked on the door of a small house along the pathway.  
"Yeah, hang on!" Cloud sighed to himself at the decision they were making. The door opened, and standing in the door-frame was a young girl, with bright, glowing aqua eyes. She had long blonde hair, that was down past her hips, and, despite the time of the night, she had a wide-brimmed sun hat on.  
"Cloud! Tifa! Cait Sith! What a surprise!" She smiled suspiciously at them. "Okay, what do you want?" Tifa giggled at Eveva's clairvoyance. Eveva smirked at them. Cloud half-smiled at her. It wasn't that he didn't like her, it was just that they always ended up calling on her.  
"What makes you think that we want something?" Cloud asked casually, looking at her.   
Eveva put her hands on her hips. "It has something to do with the fact that you only ever come here when you want something." Eveva smiled warmly. "But what are friends for, right? You're probably always busy, off saving the world and such. I heard about what you did 6 months ago. Pretty heroic, I might add. But, no-matter. Sure. If you need anything, you can always ask me." she looked Cloud in the eye. "What exactly was it you wanted, anyway."  
Cloud crossed his arms and looked at her. "Well, yes we are 'off saving the world', as you so, eloquently, put it. And, we, sort of......" He looked at Tifa quickly, hoping that she would cover for him.   
She smiled. "What Cloud is apparently having trouble saying; is that we want you to come with us. We have gotten ourselves drawn into another fight for power over the planet, and are a little short on help this time."  
Eveva looked at her strangely. "I am confused, but curious. Can you explain?"  
Tifa nodded. "Rufus, despite what we all thought, is not dead," she explained. Tifa waited a moment for the news to sink in before she continued. "In spite of being knocked out of power, he has practically declared war on the entire planet. But not in any ordinary fashion. Using the last remains of the 5 Weapon monsters, he has cloned bigger and more powerful creatures, and has even used the same materials to create smaller monsters, to cause us all the more trouble." She looked at Eveva sternly. "Do you see why we're short on help?"  
Eveva was silent for a moment, and suddenly she nodded and laughed. "Yes, I see now." she thought for a moment. Then she looked up at the three. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "I could probably manage to get some of those nasty little ex-Shinra employees like myself to side-up with you."   
"What are you talking about Eve? WHO are you talking about?" Cait Sith inquired, looking at her curiously. "I mean, who, from Shinra, in their pride and right-mind would join up with the very group who caused so many of them to loose their jobs?"  
Eveva was about to answer, when they heard a clutter from one of the rooms to the left. Cait Sith bounded over as they looked up. Eveva laughed. "You all wouldn't happen to be looking for Yuffie, would you?" Cait Sith looked at her before turning to look into the room.   
"Why do you ask? But of course we are." Cait Sith looked into the room. Eveva crossed her arms and called out.  
"Okay Yuffie, show's over, you've been caught out now."  
Yuffie walked out of the room and purposely brushed hard against Cait Sith, causing him to stumble backwards. Cait Sith wasn't impressed with the girl.  
"I want my megaphone back Yuffie." Cait Sith bounced around in front of her. "I want it back now."   
Yuffie grinned at the little cat as her glared at her. She tossed the gold megaphone at him. "You are such a little furball, Cait Sith." She looked up at Cloud and Tifa shyly. "You never asked me to come, Can I come too?"   
Cloud and Tifa looked at each other. Eveva laughed mildly at the other people around her. Cloud looked up at Yuffie and grinned. "Okay. But only as long as we don't have a repeat of what happened before, and if you stop being such a pain in the ass."  
Yuffie clapped her hands and jumped up and down enthusiastically. "Yay! Count me in!"  
Eveva smiled and walked over to a black cabinet, and pulled on the padlock. "I hate this cabinet. I have to keep changing the lock because I keep loosing the key."  
Tifa walked over and looked at the lock. "I think I can fix that." Tifa looked at Eveva. "You don't mind, do you?"  
Eveva shook her head quickly. "No, no. Go right ahead."  
Tifa pulled her arm back, and slammed the lock with her fist. The lock snapped and fell open.  
Cait Sith winced. "Doesn't it hurt when you do that?"  
Tifa grinned and rubbed her hand. "Not really, depends upon what I hit." She laughed at the look Cait Sith gave her. Eveva opened the cabinet and pulled out Andromeda, her 8-point staff. She looked at them and smiled.   
"Well, if we must, I guess we best go." She walked up and stood in front of Cloud. "And I understand why it was so hard for you to ask for my help. Don't worry about it." Cloud looked at her for a moment, then nodded.  
"Yeah. Well, let's go then." They nodded and followed him out of the house and out of town.  
  
Tifa looked over the group of people gathered at Rocket Town and put her hands on her hips. She couldn't believe Eveva. She had convinced them to help her find the Turks. 'Amazing,' she thought. 'Eveva has some major influence ability.' Cloud had reflexively disagreed with her suggestion, but then she began to come up with a bunch of excuses for why they should ask Reno, Elena and Rude for their help. 'I must admit,' Tifa thought, 'she did have some good reasons.' But good or not, no-one could be as influential as Eveva. She knew that Cloud didn't trust her very much, but she didn't care. She turned as Cloud came running into town. He stopped in front of her, and tried to regain his breath. Tifa couldn't help but smile. Cait Sith, Red XIII and Eveva ran up.   
Cloud took a deep breath and stood up. "Well, I'm here. Have you found the Turks?" Cloud looked at Tifa, who looked at Eveva for a reply.  
"Technically, no," Eveva said slowly, stepping forward, "But I do however know where Reno himself is."  
Cloud looked at her curiously. "Reno, himself? Isn't that a title you give someone who is a leader of something?"  
Eveva smiled smartly and gave Cloud a semi-sarcastic look. "Because Reno was second in command of the Turks, technically he is the leader of them now."  
Cloud nodded and waved his hand submissively and turned away. Eveva laughed and ran off to find Reno. Tifa smiled at Cloud.   
Red XIII shook his head. "Such an excitable girl, Eveva is. I guess she's just happy that she's going to see her old friends again. Even if they are, or soon will be our previous enemies."  
Cloud rolled his eyes. "I think we're making a mistake."   
"We need the help," Tifa replied, "And besides. Didn't Eveva say that Reno would say yes to anything reasonable she asked him?"  
Cloud shrugged. "I'm still not sure. The way I see it, once a Turk, always a Turk. And the Turks are Shinra. I just hope that Eveva knows what she's doing."  
Tifa looked back at the others. "But you've got to admit, she's very persuasive. And it would be good to get the Turks on our side. They are pretty good." she waited to continue as Yuffie ran over. "What's up Yuffie?"  
Yuffie grinned at them. "Eveva wants to tell you something."  
Cloud looked at her sidewardly. "Are you sure?"   
Yuffie groaned in exasperation. "Come on Cloud! Don't you believe me?"  
Cloud crossed his arms and looked at her. "Well," he started, "You originally joined us to steal our materia, which you did, I might add, lied about your father so we'd help you on a ninja test, which you didn't tell us was a ninja test- shall I go on?" Yuffie shook her head and Tifa laughed.  
"So? She really wants you." Yuffie whined.   
Cloud looked her in the eye and saw that she was serious. "Why?"  
Yuffie shrugged. "I don't know, something about you calling a truce with Reno. They're up there." Yuffie pointed to a house up one of the paths. "I don't know if they're all there though."  
Cloud nodded. "Okay. But I'll be taking my time. I'm not in a big hurry to make up with him."  
Yuffie giggled and ran back to the others. Cloud sighed. "I just hope that Eveva knows what she's doing."  
  
"Eveva. Good to see you again. I'm glad you called me to arrange this meeting."  
Eveva smiled at her old friend. She had known Reno since she was quite young, even before he joined the Turks. They had always got along, and never let their side differences get in the way of their friendship. Reno looked across the table at Eveva. The tall, 18-year-old was sitting at the table, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair around her finger. He hadn't seen her in a while, and had almost forgotten how pretty she was.   
"Reno?"  
Reno looked at her. "Yeah?"  
"Where are the others?"  
"Who knows?" Reno laughed, shrugging. "They were here. Maybe they went walkabout."  
Eveva smiled. "I think it's obvious they went somewhere."  
Reno nodded, pushing away from the table and standing up. Reno was neatly dressed, but scruffy. He, like the other members of the Turks, wore a dark, navy blue attire suit. His short, reddish hair, tied in a rat's tail at the back, however, was a little less neat, spiky and slightly fluffed. Eveva looked out the window, at the country outside.   
"So, will you go along with us?" Eveva questioned, still looking out the window. Reno crossed his arms.   
"I don't have a problem with that, but I don't know if I speak for Elena and Rude when I say that, though."  
Eveva shook her head. "At the moment, I'm only interested in your opinion."  
Reno looked at the ceiling, thinking. "Yeah, I guess so."  
Eveva smiled and stood up. "Great, that's great!" she grinned. "Now I hope Cloud believes Yuffie and comes."  
Reno nodded and laughed. He turned to Eveva. "Eve?" Eveva didn't answer. Instead she continued to look out the window. "Eve? What is it?" Eveva stared, and opened her mouth in shock.   
"Oh, damn." she said under her breath. Reno looked at her in surprise. Eveva picked up her staff and grabbed Reno's arm. "Come on." she turned and pulled Reno out of the house as the ground began to rumble. She ran over to a ledge where Cloud could see her. "Cloud! Can you see it?" Cloud raised his sword and looked up at her.   
"No! Can you?" Eveva nodded and looked over her shoulder at Reno, who was leaning on his rod to stop himself falling over, the shaking was nearly knocking them off their feet, and it was getting worse all the time. She turned back to Cloud to see him catch Tifa as she fell. Tifa put a hand on her head.  
"Come on Cloud." Tifa shakily stood up and signaled Eveva. "Okay! We'll be right up there!" Tifa and Cloud ran up the path to where Eveva and Reno were standing. Suddenly, just outside of town, a huge mole creature burst from beneath the ground. It stood 20 feet tall, with huge, slashing claws. The massive beast squealed, and opened the battle with Quake 3 on all of them. Cloud, Tifa, Eveva and Reno ran out in front of the creature. Cloud pulled out a fiery red materia and held it in front of him.  
"Ultimate End!" Suddenly, the four of them disappeared in a burst of flashing lights, and the 13 Knights of the Round each attacked the monster. after the summon attack had ended, they all came back into view, but the monster was still alive.  
Reno took a moment to sense it. "It's a Mako-Mole, level 100. And it sure is strong!"  
He turned to them. "Why don't you try poisoning it. That's it's weakness."  
Tifa nodded and did just that. But although the monster wasn't poisoned, it appeared weakened. The monster looked down on them and pounded the ground, a huge fissure blasting them all. Cloud stood up, and shuddered to his knees. To his right, Tifa once again assumed battle position, and to his left, Reno gathered himself and turned to Eveva, who was behind Cloud. Eveva was down on one knee, the point on her staff driven into the ground. She had her hands around the shaft, and the brim of her sun hat covered her face. Cloud managed to stand up and look at her.   
"Eve, are you-"   
Before he could finish, Eveva's head snapped up, and a huge blast of light flared around her, throwing them back. Cloud looked at her as she pulled the tip of the staff from the ground, a trail of green light shooting up with it. She spun the staff at her side and suddenly stopped it, one of the tips facing forward. "Gaishiiaa's wrath!" she yelled, and as soon as she did, a huge light beam in the form of a Leviathan-like dragon burst from it's tip. It shot forward, and collided with the Mako-Mole, which disappeared in a huge blast of light. The dragon rose up above the blast, roared, and then it, the light blast and the Mole, faded away completely. The roar of the dragon still echoed in their heads. Tifa turned and helped Eveva up.   
"You okay Eveva?"   
Eveva shook her head. "I don't feel real good."  
Reno thought for a moment. "So that was one of Rufus' weapon creatures."   
"I really don't feel well."  
Tifa nodded and helped her up. "Maybe we should head back to the new airship. I'm sure we could all use a rest."  
Eveva leaded heavily on her staff . "I don't feel so good." she limply pushed herself up. Reno patted her on the shoulder as he walked past her.   
Eveva looked back at the ground. "I don't feel too good." she said again. Cloud looked back at her.  
"Hey, Eve. You want a hand? You don't look real hot."   
Eveva sighed in exasperation. "I knew no-one listened to me." she said as she took Cloud's hand.   
  
Eveva slouched in the chair at the operations table and yawned. There was almost no difference between this airship and the old one; except that this Highwind was much larger and flew smoother. This was obvious because Yuffie wasn't getting air sick. But it was boring. 'It is surprising,' Eveva thought, 'how people can loose others so easily.' Elena and Rude had gone missing, and had left no clue to where they could -. Eveva jumped up. "I know!" she cried, and ran up onto the bridge.   
"Cloud! Cloud!"   
Cloud turned around and looked at her. "What is it?"  
She ran up to him. "Where are we?"  
Aeris, who had been relatively quiet ( So quiet in fact, that no-one had noticed she was there, ) spoke up. "I think we're near Corel, aren't we?" Cloud nodded. Eveva turned to Aeris. Aeris was not as tall as Eveva, but she was just as pretty, with a pink ribbon tying her long, plaited, brown hair back. Aeris had been through a lot over the past year and a half, so Eveva couldn't blame her for keeping out of the way. Eveva smiled at her, and she smiled back.   
"Corel." Eveva thought about this for a moment. "Cloud, would you mind landing here?"  
Clouds eyes widened. "Oh?"  
Cid turned away from the controls. "Why do ya wanna land here for?"  
Eveva bounded over and leaned over Cid's shoulder, looking at the controls. "Because I'm acting on a hunch, and I want to check something out. I'll be taking Giga, if I can."  
Barrett was leaning against a pole in one corner of the room. Looking up, he said; "Your Gold Choco? What d'ya want that for?"  
Cloud nodded. "Yes Eveva, what's on your mind?"   
Eveva shook her head. "Not much, but I think there's something out in those mountains." She pointed to the mountains just west of Corel.  
Tifa shrugged. "I can name a few things in those mountains." she said smartly.  
Eveva groaned. "Oh, come on, please? You know I'll come back."  
Cloud sighed. "Oh, all right."  
Eveva hugged him. "Thanks, Cloud!"  
Cloud grabbed her shoulders before she ran off. "Back by dusk - deal?" Eveva nodded and ran off. Red XIII walked up beside Cloud and sat down.  
"As I said before; a very excitable girl. I wonder what she expects to find in those mountains."  
Clouds face was stern. "I think I'd better follow her. Anyone else?"  
Tifa shook her head. "Don't like the region."  
Barrett's head snapped up. "What d'ya mean; 'don't like the region?' "  
Tifa turned to him. "I didn't mean that I don't like Corel, Barrett, it's just I don't like the mountains!" she snapped.   
Cait Sith backed away. "Nope, you go on ahead. I'll stay here and, uh, conserve my strength."  
Red XIII shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't much like mountain climbing."  
Yuffie also disagreed to come. "I don't like heights."  
"We all know that. I've gotta stay here in case you get into trouble and need me to pilot in and pick you up." Cid said, turning back to the controls. Barrett just waved his hand.  
"Oh, I'll go if no-one else will." Aeris said, picking up her weapon.   
Cloud turned and nodded. "Sure. Okay. It'll be impossible to follow Eveva on foot, so we'll take the black and green chocobos; Tal and Cinder." Aeris nodded and followed Cloud off the bridge.  
  
Giga walked among the high rocks and ledges that made up the Corel Mountain Range. Eveva was perched on her back, occasionally glancing up through her binoculars.   
"Wark." Giga cooed softly, to gain Eveva's attention, and stopped.  
"What is it, Giga?" she whispered. Eveva followed the chocobos' gaze upwards.   
Edging along an extremely narrow and high ledge, were two figures in dark blue suits. They were Turks, and the two in particular that Eveva had come this far out to find. One of them was bald, and the other had shoulder - length blonde hair. What they were doing walking along this rather dangerous pathway, Eveva could only guess, but despite her own common sense, she dismounted her chocobo and followed them. Giga started after her, but Eveva motioned for her to stay where she was. Giga cooed silently. Eveva looked up the rock face. The ledge was probably 20 metres above her, and there was a good 15 metre drop below. Eveva shuddered at the elevation, but went on anyway, planning to scale the wall to the ledge above, where she would come up ahead of the Turks. Eveva grabbed handhold after handhold, and soon was halfway up the cliff. As she neared the top, however, the rock became more fragile. Eveva wasn't about to let this stop her, so she swung her staff up, and it caught the edge of the rock. Pulling herself up, she looked around. She was all right here, the path widened. The ledge where she stood was 5 feet across, but the walkway the Turks were using was barely 2 feet. Eveva was about to sit down, when a shrill scream echoed around her. Quickly but carefully, she headed down the path towards the sound. She turned a corner, and saw Rude leaning over the cliff. He looked up at her as she turned. His brow was furrowed and he had broken a sweat.  
"Hey! You've got to help. Elena's fallen over the edge. I can't reach her!"   
Eveva ran over as fast as she dared along the tight path. She looked down and saw the second Turk, Elena, holding on for dear life, maybe 6 or 7 feet below them. If she should slip again, the handholds below her would be too narrow to grab onto. If she should fall again, it would surely be to her death. Eveva thought quickly. Acting much to Rude's surprise, Eveva swung down and climbed towards Elena. Elena hadn't noticed her yet, she was grasping the cliff, with her eyes tightly closed. Eveva got down beside her, and dug her staff into the rock, using it as a handhold. Eveva put her hand on Elena's shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked at her. Eveva could see the fear in her eyes. She knew how she must feel, Eveva herself was a little frightened out on the cliff face, with the wind blowing against them.   
"Elena, are you okay?"   
Elena tried to make herself look strong, but to no avail. "Of course I'm not okay," she said shakily, her voice showing how uneasy she was. Eveva looked up, then down. The way up was rocky, so that would be the best way to go. 'But what about Elena?' Eveva thought, looking at her. Elena was probably 7 or so years older than Eveva, but here, she looked like a frightened little child. Elena's' shiny blonde hair showed that she had hit her head on the way down, as her hair was bloodstained on the left side. Elena looked at Eveva as if a sudden thought had occurred to her.   
"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.  
Eveva grinned and braced herself against the cliff. "What's it look like?"  
Elena smiled in spite of herself. She looked up. "Can we get back up?"  
Eveva looked up and grabbed the cliff. "Yeah." She reached down. "Come on, I'll help you."  
Elena looked at her in surprise. "You want me to let go? I'm not as strong as you, I'll fall."  
"Don't be ridiculous. I promise I wont let you fall."  
Elena stayed still for a moment, then nodded slowly. Eveva helped her get her footing, then they came back up the cliff. Rude reached down and helped Elena onto the very thin ledge. Eveva edged along the side of the cliff and jumped up where the wider path was. She reached around with her staff and helped Elena across. When she got around, she sat down and leaned against the rock. She took this time to gather herself. Eveva kneeled down beside her. "You know, Elena, I bet you've got a real good reason for walking across a 35 foot high, 2 foot wide ledge like that."  
Elena looked at her out of the corner of her eye and half - smiled. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."  
Eveva grinned. "Nice. But I'm serious. Besides. You owe me."  
Elena sighed and put a hand on her head. Rude turned to Eveva.   
"We're following Lucrecia. She's stolen something very important, and we have reason to believe that she want's to re - attempt what she tried to do 6 months ago."  
Eveva looked at him. "What was that?"  
Elena looked at her, mildly surprised. "You didn't hear? There was more to the story of Aeris being revived than you think."  
Eveva stood up and shrugged. She took out her PHS and dialed in a number. Clouds voice came over the phone.  
"Yeah?"  
"Listen Cloud, I know you're following me, so get over here. Can you call Cid as well? Very good."  
"Hey, Eveva, wait up a second, what's going on?"  
Eveva laughed. "Very nice Cloud, I'll explain later. Just do it please." She hung up. Looking up, she saw the two other chocobos come over a rise. She waved at them. She looked at the Turks and smiled. "Not to worry."  
Suddenly the familiar roar of the Highwind boomed over head. Elena looked up and laughed briefly.   
"Looks like your cavalry's arrived."  
  
They all sat around the operations table. Eveva smiled widely as Reno leaned across the table towards Elena.  
"Why didn't you tell me where you were going? You could have been killed!"  
Elena leaned back in her chair and smiled meekly, knowing that at the moment she was the center of attention. She put a hand on her head, where a bandage covered the injury she had sustained on the rock face. She looked at Eveva hoping she would cover for her, but Eveva shrugged cheekily in reply. Elena looked at Reno.  
"I didn't tell you because you would've stopped me."  
Reno laughed sarcastically. "I would've tied you to the damn floor! If you really have that much of a death wish, at least tell somebody before you go and commit suicide!"  
Eveva laughed. Reno turned to her. "And what were you doing out there?"  
Cloud, sitting at the head of the table, had been smirking to himself while he listened to Reno scold Rude and Elena like they were little children. Now it looked like he was going to have a go at Eveva as well. He was in the mood to make life hard for Eveva, so he decided to chip in and try to make her nervous.   
"No, I think a better question would be; how did she know they were out there in the first place?" Cloud smiled to himself. He thought he had her, but to his surprise, the same annoyingly cute and innocent smile remained on her face. She shrugged.   
"Don't know. I was just taking a wild guess, a shot in the dark, you know? I guess they're lucky I was out there, huh?"  
Rude nodded silently. Aeris tried to hide a smile. Red XIII also tried not to laugh. Eveva looked at them and mouthed 'Oookay then.' Tifa smirked and Cait Sith covered his face discreetly with his megaphone. Eveva turned suddenly and looked at Cloud.  
"You know, I just had a thought."  
As soon as she spoke, several of them broke out in laughter.  
Cloud looked at them all. "What? Am I missing something?" He shook his head and stood up. "Well, I've got other things to do than sit here and watch this." he walked out of the room. As he left, everyone began to calm down.  
Eveva looked at them all. "What was so funny anyway?"  
Tifa shrugged and looked around. "I have absolutely no idea."  
Aeris shook her head. "I was just laughing because everyone else was. Maybe it was Cloud's reaction to your answer. I really don't know."  
Tifa walked up behind Eveva and slipped something into her hand. Eveva looked at it, and turned to face Tifa.  
"What - ?"  
Tifa raised a finger to her lips. "Ssshh. Don't tell Cloud. If he knows that we still have it, well, who knows. But I trust you wont tell him?"  
Eveva shook her head. "No, don't worry Tifa, I wont tell him." Eveva put the yellow orb into her pocket. "You'd be shocked at some of the secrets I keep."  
Tifa looked at her suspiciously as a strange flash went through her eyes. She saw it as familiar, in a strange sort of way. She looked at her for a moment, and saw something that chilled her to the bone. Tifa wondered why she had never noticed it before; Eveva had Sephiroth's eyes. She was jarred suddenly as Reno grabbed her shoulder.   
"Listen. We're going to follow Lucrecia. Do you want to come with us?"  
Eveva put her hands on her hips and glared at him.  
Reno grinned. "We were asking you as well, you know."  
Eveva put her head to the side and smiled. Cait Sith bustled up between Eveva and Tifa.  
"I would like to come too."  
Reno looked down at him. "Why?"  
Mog put its' arms around Tifa's waist and looked at Reno with puppy eyes. "Because I want to go with Tifa." Cait Sith said in a pleading voice.   
Reno shrugged and began to walk out of the room. "Come on then."  
  
The Turks, Cait Sith, Tifa and Eveva walked through the gates of Nibelheim slowly. But these weren't the real gates. This was merely a crossroad in the lifestream. The glowing green windows of the Shinra mansion drew their attention. Slowly, they walked inside, and into the basement, where the circle of light was. But as they entered the library, they realized that time had run out. Lucrecia stood in the circle of light, and looked at them.   
"You're too late." she said, and held the crystal materia in both hands. "Nor par tellamar, Sephiroth!"   
The light flared brightly, and a black figure appeared in Lucrecia's place.   
Eveva turned to Tifa. "What do we do?"  
Tifa grabbed her arm. "We can't handle him here, let's go back to the Highwind, we can work out something there."  
Eveva nodded and looked Sephiroth in the eye. He was making a move towards Reno, but her glare stopped him mid - step. He glared back at her. She turned away and followed Tifa out. They waited in the passage, and soon Cait Sith and the Turks came running out.   
"It is not like us to run away as such, but I advise it would be wise to do so now," Reno said quickly, but calmly. Tifa nodded as Sephiroth appeared in the library doorway.   
"Our first meeting may have been brief, but know this Tifa, I'll get my own back at Cloud. If it's the last thing I do." Then he turned and re - entered the library.  
Tifa shook her head, trying to shake Sephiroth's chilling words from where they had stuck themselves in her mind. What made it worse was that he had addressed her personally, and didn't even attempt to attack them, almost as though he wanted them to live. It occurred to her that now they not only had to worry about Rufus and his Weapon Clones, but now there was something else, and Tifa knew that this time, Sephiroth wouldn't loose so easily. Elena shot past her, and as Reno ran past, he grabbed Tifa's' arm and pulled her to her feet.  
"C'mon, let's go before he changes his mind."  
Tifa shook her head slowly. "He won't."  
Cait Sith looked at her. "Why not?"  
Elena nodded. "Yes, why not Tifa?"  
Tifa looked back at the doorway. "Trust me. He wants Cloud to know he's alive. He wants Cloud to get his message. So he needs us to tell Cloud." Eveva stepped forward, aiming to object to telling Cloud where they went, but Tifa stopped the girl. "And if you plan on stopping me from telling him, then I'll make you tell him, and you know as well as I do, that it'll sound worse coming from you."  
Eveva lowered her head. Tifa thought this was an act of submission, but little did she know, Eveva was not who they thought she was, and was soon to become, who they never thought she could be.  
  
"Yo Cloud! Catch!"   
Cloud looked up and caught the paper plane, before it could hit him. They were once again in the Operations Room, but this time it was in uproar. Cloud put his elbow on the table and his head in his hand. He looked tiredly at the several people crowding the table. Elena and Rude were yelling at each other across the table, Tifa and Barrett were playing cards right down the end of the table. Yuffie was throwing paper planes at Red XII, and Aeris was arguing with Cait Sith about which materia should be linked with what. Eveva and Reno were talking non - heatedly, to his left, and Cid was also watching them all, half - way down the table. Cloud shook his head. Trying to bring them to order right now would be like trying to quiet a class of rowdy children, and he just didn't have the energy to do so right now. He would have to do something eventually, this noise was getting to him. They were supposed to be going after Rufus, but they had gotten side - tracked. He cleared his throat. Eveva and Reno looked up. Cloud shook his head. Eveva looked down the table.   
"Hey, everyone - shut up!"   
This attracted the attention of a few of the others. Tifa looked up from her cards, Aeris and Cait Sith concluded their conversation by saying that materia combinations depend upon the user, and Elena and Rude finished talking ( If you could call the way they were yelling at each other 'talking' ). One by one, the others quietened down, each turning to face Cloud. He looked a little surprised, as it was easier to get their attention than he thought. He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.  
"Okay, I'm open. What do we do now?"   
Yuffie turned to Red XIII. Soon they all did. He looked at them all slowly.   
"What are you looking at me for?"  
Cloud nodded. "Any ideas?"  
Red XIII sighed. "Well, as you have probably noticed, we are minus 3 people. One, Vincent; we have no clue of his whereabouts, Reed; who could be anywhere, given the fact that he seems to have a problem with staying in one place for long, and the other; and she will come in useful if we need aerial surveillance, -"  
Cloud shook his head quickly. "Uh - uh. Noooo way. There is no way!"  
Eveva smiled smartly. "Why not, Cloud? Don't you like her?"  
Cloud shook his head. "It's not that. But there is no way, absolutely none. I'm not going to ask Cairo for help."  
  
"I can't believe this," Cloud grumbled to himself for the third time that afternoon.  
They walked through the Gonganga forest, single file. Eveva walked behind Cloud, strangely waving her hand above her head, holding a very bright materia.   
Tifa looked at her. "What -"  
Aeris began giggling quietly at Eveva's' behavior. Aeris looked around. "I wonder where Cairo is?"  
Cloud sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Maybe she died."  
Tifa snorted. "Yeah, you wish."  
Eveva looked first at Tifa, then at Cloud before raising her opinion. "That's not very nice."  
Cloud looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Since when have I been nice to Cairo?"  
Tifa leaned forward. "You weren't there when we first met Cairo. She was really rude to Cloud." Tifa whispered in Eveva's' ear. "Those two never got along, Cloud only let her join us because they shared similar goals."  
Aeris laughed. "Cloud and Cairo get along almost as well as Barrett and Yuffie."  
Eveva looked over her shoulder, all the time still waving the materia. "You mean strictly business?"  
"Strictly nothing." Tifa laughed. "The point is they don't get along."   
Eveva laughed. Not long after, a strange whistling noise came over the treetops.   
Yuffie looked up. "What's that?"  
Cloud shrugged, annoyed. Eveva kept waving the materia, and was acting as though it was completely normal to do so. Tifa couldn't wait any longer.   
"Eveva, what are you doing?"  
Eveva didn't have time to answer.  
"INCOMING!!!!!!! " The loud voice cried out as a huge form dove in on them, and smashed right into Cloud, knocking him over, before hitting the ground, and skidding into a rock, head - first, probably 10 feet away. Eveva chucked the materia to the creature, slowly uncrumpling itself off the ground.   
"Nice 3 - point landing."  
Cloud sat up, rubbing his head. "Did anyone get the number plate of that truck?" he said, dazed, as he staggered to his feet. The huge monster shook its' jeweled head and looked at him.   
"Well, excuse me. I didn't know I was that overweight."  
Cloud groaned. "Not you. Even though we were looking for you."  
Cairo straitened herself out to her full two hundred and twenty centimeters of height and three hundred and ninety centimeters of length. She proudly stuck out her chest and grinned at Cloud out of the corner of her eye.  
"Oh? I thought you were a tough guy. Always 'Don't want you girls to get involved' and so forth. Could I have put my respect for you on the wrong qualities?"  
Cloud didn't answer. Aeris nudged Tifa, the two of them trying not to laugh. Cairo swung around an faced the other way, looking at her claws in some sort of melancholy posture.   
"But, then again," she began in a wry voice, "You didn't invite me last time. And I don't think I had respect for you to begin with."  
Tifa approached the dragon. "We need your help, Cairo. Your ability to fly would be of great use to us."  
Cairo nodded. Suddenly a voice chimed up.   
"Well, thank goodness we're not relying on the landing abilities, or else we'd really be sunk!"  
Cairo turned sharply to face Cait Sith. She walked up to him with her hands on her hips.   
"Well. Looks like someone coughed up another hairball. How're ya doin' Cait Sith? Been chased up any trees lately, or doncha know how cause you're head's too fulla stuffin?"  
Cait Sith crossed his arms and glared at Cairo. "My head might be fulla stuffin', but at least my mouth ain't fulla shit like yours is."  
Cairo, pulled back, offended. Cait Sith laughed.  
"You can give it but ya can't take it, can ya Cairo?"  
Cairo snorted and turned away. Cid checked his watch and tapped Red XIII's shoulder.   
"Gettin on in the time. I suggest we get goin' now."  
Red XIII nodded and stepped forwards. "Might I suggest that we finish this, ahem, conversation on the airship?"  
Cloud nodded and began walking. "I don't know how they managed to get me to do this."  
Cairo looked at him curiously. She turned to Yuffie.  
"What's his problem?"  
Yuffie shrugged. "Dunno. All I know is that he's got more problems than anyone else I know."  
Cairo laughed. "I like you."  
  
"So that's the story."  
Cloud finished explaining their mission yet again. Cairo shook her head.  
"Damn. Talk about a trip down memory lane."  
Cloud nodded slowly and looked up at Cairo, shielding his eyes from the sun. Cairo was half - way up the pole, using her huge billowy wings as sails. The small boat moved quickly down the narrow stream. Cloud, Tifa and Aeris sat in the boat, while Cairo sat ( Or clung ) on the mast. 'It's a bit crude, but the Highwind couldn't get down here, and where we were going, we had to go by boat,' Cloud thought. Cairo sighed.  
"How degrading. I'm a dragon, for Christ's sake. Not a sail."  
Cloud shrugged. "At least you're helping."  
Cairo groaned. "When you said 'help' I thought you meant kicking asses and stuff."  
Cairo pretended to punch an imaginary opponent.  
"We will."  
Aeris leaned over the edge of the little boat and let her hand drag in the water. "It's nice out here."  
Cairo flapped her wings to gain momentum. "It's boring."  
"Don't complain you'll ruin it!" Tifa sighed and looked up at Cairo. "Mmm."  
They turned a corner and Cairo folded her wings.   
"Shit."  
The boat slowly pulled under the outcropping and into the cavern below. Cairo dove into the water and pulled the boat up onto the shore. She walked slowly up the riverbank, and looked around, followed closely by Cloud, Tifa and Aeris.   
Cairo laughed briefly. "So. Creepy place, huh? Guess it suits him."  
Tifa put her hands on her hips as Cloud sighed at Cairo's' comment.   
"That's not very civil, Cairo. Vincent isn't creepy, He's just a little mysterious, that's all."  
Cairo looked into the darkness, completely ignoring the fact she was just spoken to.  
"Talk about pulling your head in. This guy's weird."  
Aeris sighed in exasperation. "Cairo, if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything."  
Cloud laughed. "I'm afraid if she abides by that, she wont be making much noise."  
"Are you implying that I'm a big mouth?  
"No, What I am implying however, is that every thing you say is insulting."  
"You're so big - headed!"  
"You can talk!"   
Tifa ran between the two, separating them before a fight broke out. Aeris shook her head, and switched on her flashlight.  
"Vincent!" Aeris' voice echoed around the huge cavern.   
A loud hiss sounded out from the depths of the cave.  
Cairo walked in front of them and spread her wings to shield her allies. "That was a bad idea."  
A three - headed, snake - like beast slithered out of the darkness into the dim light. It rose up maybe twice Cairo's height. Under Cairo's shield, Aeris took out a reddish orb and concentrated on it.  
"Giga Flare!" she cried, and they disappeared in a burst of bright light.  
The creature jolted suddenly, as the ground beneath it cracked and split, rising up into the air. The cavern roof vanished, and the snake was thrust up into the skies. The clouds cleared as Neo Bahamut sailed down and became level with the monster. He rose his head and prepared to fire the Giga Ray, and blasted the snake, disintegrating the ground beneath it. The monster crashed back down to earth, everything returning to normal. As they faded back into view, the snake collapsed, and died.   
Cairo relaxed. "Well, if that didn't get his attention, then nothing will."  
"Cloud!"   
They looked up as a tall figure strode out of the darkness. Cairo looked at Cloud smugly.  
"Told ya."  
Vincent viewed them all briefly. "It's good to see you all." He turned to Cloud. "I take it you got my message?"   
Cloud nodded. He turned to Cairo and smiled. "Cairo, you know we can't come back the way we came because the wind is against us right?"  
Cairo looked at him suspiciously. "What're you saying?"  
Cloud walked over to the boat and took out a rope. "Can you do us a favor? Take this rope and fly up outside the cavern, and drop it down so that we can get up onto the ledge?"  
Cairo took the rope but continued to look at Cloud in the same way. "Why do you wanna go up there?"  
"So that we can climb to the top of the gully."  
"Why?"  
"So that Cid can pick us up."  
"Why? Can't we stay here and kick some more mutated butt?" Cairo pleaded.  
Cloud shook his head. "Sorry Cairo, another time."  
Cairo walked off, grumbling to herself. She got to the end of the embankment and flew up, dropping the rope down to them. Slowly, they climbed up onto the ledge above, blinking in the sunlight. Cairo sat on the ground and glared at Cloud.   
"Next time you're probably gonna be usin' me as a pack horse or sumthin'. Or a taxi. Or a chocobo substitute."  
Aeris laughed. "Oh, don't go putting ideas into his head."  
Cairo laughed sarcastically and looked at Aeris out of the corner of her eye.   
"I tell ya what though. I ain't flyin' you all up the gully."  
Vincent shook his head. "I see you haven't changed."  
  
Eveva looked out over the railing on the deck of the Highwind. The field where they had landed was quiet and hot, given that it was the middle of the day. Eveva turned around and looked at the huge bluish - grey dragon sleeping on the deck in the sun.   
"Sephiroth is back."  
Cairo opened an eye and looked up at her. "So?" She stretched and stood up. Yawning, she added, "I use him for target practice."  
Eveva put her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't speak ill of those you should respect. Even if they are extremely despisable characters."  
Cairo laughed airily. "I could fell him in one swipe!" Cairo swung around enthusiastically and strangled the air.  
"He would wipe the floor with you." Eveva protested playfully. Cairo laughed and put her hand up to her chin.   
"Are you defending him?"  
"No."  
"Are you standing up for him?"  
"He doesn't need anyone to stand up for him."  
"How do you know?"  
"Why would he?" Eveva turned back around and looked out at the forest around Gonganga. "Cairo, why do you like Gonganga so much?"  
"What's not to like? I mean, tropical climate, big, lush forest, petite little town and a reminder of how un - intelligent and un - foreseeing the Shinra were."  
"You forgot that they were losers."  
"What about the Turks?"  
Eveva looked at her." I think they were fighting for the wrong side. After all, they were always loosing up until now."  
"What about....the Department heads?"  
Eveva shrugged. "Reeve isn't that bad. Scarlet could be a little less bitchy, Heidigger - don't even ask, Hojo was a weirdo, Palmer was one hell of a bowling ball and Rufus - well, put it this way - I'm going to make sure I say it to his face." She looked back at Cairo. "What about you?"  
"Well, I think they're all loony. Anyone who had anything to do with Shinra must've been loony." Eveva put her hands on her hips. Cairo laughed. "All right. Anyone who had anything to do with Shinra because they wanted to must have been loony."  
Eveva smiled. Cairo stretched out again and slowly walked over to the door.   
"Well, that's enough for today."   
Eveva smiled again and looked back out over the railing. She saw something in the distance that caught her eye. She grinned to herself.   
"Eveva?"   
Eveva turned to see Elena walk out onto the deck. She leaned against the railing next to Eveva.   
"I'm not really the person who shows a lot of gratitude, but, thanks. You know, for back on the cliff. I guess I didn't really say thank you."  
Eveva nodded and took out a piece of paper. She quickly scribbled a note down on it and handed it to Elena. Eveva swung down onto the ladder, and began to climb down. When she neared the bottom of the ladder, she looked up at Elena.  
"Give the note to Cloud. Tell him you found it on the deck. I'll be back soon. Don't worry, I'll try not to get killed, okay?"   
"If I have to come after you, I wont be happy."  
Eveva grinned. "Don't worry, I'm only going to find Sephiroth."  
Elena looked down at her quickly, shocked. "What!?" She leaned down over the rail. "Eveva, you're not serious are you? Cloud'll die! He'll kill you if Sephiroth doesn't!" Eveva began to walk away. "I know what I'm doing, after all, how long have I known Sephiroth?"  
Elena sighed and looked out after her. "Your whole life."  
  
"She did what!? She went where?! And you let her?!"  
Elena shied back as Reno began to fret.  
"I can't stop her, you know what she's like! She listens to no-one!"  
Reno paced back and forth. "You told Cloud?"  
"She said to give him this note, and to say that I found it on the deck."  
"Then she had your best interests in mind. If Cloud knew you saw her go, you might as well start carving your own coffin. Cloud might not like her, but if he's anything like me, he'll feel responsible for her." He sighed. "Give him the note, let's just hope that Eveva will be all right."  
  
"No Cloud, I found it on the deck. If I had've seen her go, I would have stopped her."  
Cloud read the note again, shaking his head. "That girl, she's more trouble than she's worth. Well, we'll have to go after her."  
Tifa looked at Elena. "Did she tell you to say that?"  
Elena looked at her sharply. "How -"  
"I overheard you and Reno talking."  
Cloud pointed at the Turks. "Okay. You three, Tifa, Aeris, Cairo and I will go after her. The rest of you stay here in case she should happen to come back, although I seriously doubt that she will."  
The group proceeded onto the deck and off the Highwind, following Elena's direction. 'If Sephiroth finds her, he'll kill her. We have to get there first' Cloud thought as he headed into the forest ahead of them.  
  
The figure in the black cloak moved cautiously in amongst the trees, completely unaware that he was being watched. Eveva crouched in the tree boughs until he had passed, then she stood up.  
"Bit hot to be wearing black."   
Sephiroth spun around at her voice, surprised at the sound. "Who are you?"  
Eveva jammed the end of her staff into the tree. "You don't know me? I know you."  
Sephiroth moved under the branch where she was standing, and looked up at her. "You do look familiar."  
Eveva reached for her staff and pulled it free, but at the same time losing her balance and fell, landing on Sephiroth who was just below her. She jumped up quickly, and watched as he stood up.   
"You need to work on your balance.  
Eveva put her hands on her hips. "That's not very polite, you know."  
Sephiroth began walking again. "If you know me so well, wouldn't you expect me to be uncivil?"  
Eveva followed him. He stopped and turned to face her.   
"Now listen. It is only by chance that I happen to be in a fair mood today that I haven't brought harm to you as yet; but you are starting to push your luck."  
Eveva looked at him. 'Oh, how intriguing. I'm pretty good at pushing my luck, so let's see what happens.' She took a step forward. "But I only want to -"  
Sephiroth swung his sword up and held it poised, just barely missing her throat. She froze, her hands up, a little relieved. Her luck had held out - by about 2 or 3 inches. Eveva put her hand up and pushed the tip cautiously aside.  
"I get the point." Eveva turned around and sat on a rock, seemingly ignoring his very existence.   
Sephiroth huffed at her and kept walking. When he was out of sight, Eveva looked back and grinned.  
"Let's see. I think Cloud may be a little less angry," she held up a greenish materia, "When he finds out that I stole Sephiroth's best materia." She giggled to herself. Looking up, she saw a group of people heading her way. "Speak of the devil." She stood up and ran up to them. Cloud looked at her, apparently not pleased.   
"Can you tell me what, exactly, you were doing?" Cloud asked, trying to sound normal.  
Eveva grinned. "Pushing my luck. And your patience?"  
Tifa looked at Aeris. "Ouch," she whispered. The two laughed silently.   
Cloud was unimpressed. He took a deep breath. "You pushed more than that this time Eveva."  
Cairo looked at them. "Listen to ya. You're scoldin' her like she's your daughter!"  
Rude put a hand up to warn Cairo not to continue. Tifa looked at Cloud awaiting his response, but he either didn't hear her or ignored her comment.  
"I just did you a favor Cloud."  
"A favor? We came all the way out here to stop Sephiroth or find you before he did, and you say you did us a favor?"  
"Yeah, and if you were coming out to 'save' me, you're a little late, because Sephiroth's already been here."  
Cairo looked at her disbelievingly. "Impossible. You're still alive."  
Eveva sneered at her. "What, you don't think I can take care of myself?"  
"Don't oppose me, half - pint!"  
Eveva grabbed Cairo by the snout. "Come on then, take me. I dare you," she hissed at her.  
Cairo pulled free and backed off. 'I can never win an argument with these people,' she thought.  
Eveva turned back to Cloud. "I purposefully caused a little 'accident' and in the meantime I stole his best materia. You know, the Explosion one."  
Cloud's mood rose slightly. "Makes up for it a bit, but please, don't do it again."  
Eveva handed Cloud the materia and nodded. "I'll try."  
Cloud turned back to the others. "Okay. Back to the Highwind. Let's go."  
  
Tifa watched as Aeris and Cait Sith began to argue again. 'It's weird seeing Aeris argue with someone, but at least they aren't fighting as enemies,' Tifa thought, as she sat down. Dinner was never very formal, as even Cloud's voice seemed to join the loud, but strangely satisfying sea of words that broke up the usual solemnity of a dinner table. Aeris and Cait Sith were just across from her, Barrett, Vincent , Red XIII, Yuffie and Cid were down the table, to her left, and Cloud, Eveva and the Turks were up the table, to her right. Elena was just next to her.  
"Hi," Elena turned to her. "Look at that." Elena pointed subtly up the table. Cloud, Eveva and Reno were talking civilly up the end of the table. "They're actually getting along."  
Tifa smiled. "What are they talking about?"  
Elena shrugged. "Who knows? I haven't been listening. But I think they're talking about Shinra's Department Heads. I've picked up a few names."  
Tifa nodded in reply.  
Reno turned to Eveva. "Who cooked this, do you know?"  
Eveva looked down the table at them.   
Elena looked up. "Tifa, Aeris and I. Why?"  
Reno turned away and nodded. "Oh, no reason."  
"Why?"  
"It's not bad, that's all."  
Elena grinned and turned to Aeris and Cait Sith, across the table. "What are you two arguing about this time?"  
Aeris looked at her and smiled. "Cait Sith thinks that you can get through a battle just by using summons and nothing else. And I think that it's silly."  
"It is not," Cait Sith said quickly. "It is possible."  
Aeris looked at him. "I'm not saying that it's not possible, I'm saying that it's silly. Why waste energy calling summons, when you should think out your battle, you know, strategorise. I'm sure Cloud would agree with me."  
"Why wouldn't he. He always agrees with the girls. Hell, he agrees with Eveva more than he agrees with me."  
Elena laughed.   
"Hey, everyone," Cloud began. "Not much to do at the moment, so, what do you propose we do while we wait for either Rufus or Sephiroth to make a move?"  
"Go to Gold Saucer!" Cait Sith cried.  
Aeris whacked him across the back of the head. "Yeah, right. And waste all our money?"  
Yuffie punched the air. "Materia hunting!"  
Cairo laughed and pushed her head down. "No way! Let's go to Wutai! Tell Lord Godo what a naughty little girl Yuffie has been!"  
Yuffie hit Cairo on the head. "Let's not!"  
Tifa smirked and turned to Elena. "I don't see why we shouldn't just stay here and sit on our butts. It's all we've been doing lately anyway."  
Elena smiled. "Maybe Eveva ran off to give us something to do."  
Eveva looked down the table. "Who said that?"  
Tifa laughed. Cloud waved his hands to quieten everyone down. "All right, all right, calm down."  
Eveva shrugged. "I have a friend, maybe 10 miles down the beach from Costa Del Sol, maybe I could arrange something with her."  
Tifa leaned back in her chair. "The beach? I'm all for it."  
Cloud nodded at Eveva. "See what you can do."  
Red XIII looked up the table. "Who is this 'friend'?"  
  
The small plane lost altitude as it skimmed over the shoreline, south from Costa Del Sol. Reno leaned over the seat and looked over Eveva's shoulder.  
"Tell me again why we couldn't take the Highwind in?"  
Eveva turned around and grabbed onto the back of the seat so that she could face him. Cid was flying the plane, and she was sitting next to him. Elena and Reno were the only ones who had bothered to accompany her. Eveva smiled.  
"It is a farm, you know. She has some animals, and doesn't want them to get frightened. After all, Cloud uses the Highwinds engines to wake us up in the morning. I do believe that the animals won't like the noise."  
Elena laughed. "From 'Queen of Destruction' to Nature Lover. That's a big change for only 1 and a half years."  
Eveva nodded. "She breeds exotic Chocobos."  
Reno looked at her disbelievingly. "We are talking about the same person aren't we? I mean, are you sure the names weren't crossed?"  
Eveva looked at him and smirked. "I think you'll be very surprised."  
Reno grinned and turned to look at Elena. "Ahh, well, we'll see."  
The plane glided over the ocean, and began to move inland, over towards the rich, green countryside. As the plane flew lower, a large, one - story ranch style house came into view.   
"We're gonna land now," Cid warned Eveva. She nodded and turned around.  
The plane flew lower, and landed on a grassy rise just above the beach. Eveva, Reno and Elena jumped out of the plane. Cid leaned out the door.  
"I'll be waiting here. Is that all right?"  
Eveva nodded and walked around the side of the plane and pulled up a sliding door. She led Giga out of the plane. She got on. "I'll go on ahead. I'll meet you there, okay?"   
Reno nodded and she rode off. Giga ran quickly over the grassy area between the plane and the house, and soon pulled up to the verandah. Eveva dismounted and ran up the steps and across the verandah, and knocked on the door.   
"Just a second!"  
The door opened and a middle - aged woman, probably in her 30's, with tied back, medium length blonde hair, a white T-shirt and jeans stepped out onto the patio.  
"Eveva! Hello, how are you?" The woman hugged her, and smiled, tucking some of her blonde hair behind her ear.  
Eveva smiled back at her, a woman who had changed so much since Shinra's fall over a year ago. She used to be a bit mean, and more than a little bitchy, but now she had changed her attitude a bit.   
"Hello Scarlet. I'm great, how about you?"  
Scarlet laughed. "Oh, fine, fine. I got your call."  
Eveva smiled. "And what do you think?"  
Scarlet turned serious for a moment while she thought. "Well, let's see. They almost blew me up when they destroyed the Proud Clod, Tifa and I had quite a cat - fight on the cannon, I lost a lot of my colleagues - including Heidigger, and when they forced Shinra under, I lost my job. What do you think I should do?"  
Eveva thought about this. "Cairo says that anyone who was in Shinra because they wanted to be is loony. But, if you really want my opinion, I think you should let it go."  
Scarlet looked up as Reno and Elena walked up. She smiled. "What about you? Did you make up with them even after all those times they made you look like losers?"  
Reno laughed. "Well, the truth was, because we were on the wrong side - we were."  
Scarlet sighed. "All right then. Better call them in before I change my mind."  
Eveva laughed. "Let me guess - you're only doing this because I'm so manipulative?"  
"Where'd you get that from?"  
"That's what Cloud said."  
Scarlet patted her on the shoulder. "No, I'm doing, this because I'm looking for some fun."  
  
Cloud stood out on the deck and looked out at the sky. Shaking his head, he turned to Barrett.  
"Those storm clouds are getting a little close for comfort. Maybe I should call Eve - ,"  
Before he could finish, the PHS rang.  
"Hello?"  
"Cloud," Eveva's voice came over the other end. "She said it's all right. She also said you could bring the Highwind in, but you'd have to land it a little way out."  
"Yeah okay," Cloud looked out at the storm clouds again. "The sky's getting a little scary out here anyway. I was about to call to say that we were going to head inland. But, sure, we'll be there in about 10 minutes."  
"Be careful," Eveva laughed. "Cid'd kill you if you trashed his airship."  
Cloud shook his head. "Yeah, all right. We'll have to cover up that hole in the side of the deck."  
Barrett shook his head and chuckled to himself.   
"Yeah, and , uh, Barrett, you'll have to fix the engines. I'm afraid we got the seagulls through them. Now we have seagull patté"  
Barrett laughed. "Yeah. Can't have that, can we?"  
Eveva tried not to laugh. "Come on, be serious, I mean, you're scarin' me here. What'd you do with Cloud? Cloud never jokes around. Especially not with me."  
Cloud looked at Barrett and grinned. "Oh, sorry, you caught me out. We kidnapped the real Cloud and took over the airship."  
"You're being very childish, Cloud. What happened to you? Did you hit your head or something?"   
Cloud sighed. "Nah, just in a good mood, that's all."  
"That's a first. I thought you were 'Mr. Serious - about - his - work', the one to say 'Can't have you ladies get involved', never thought half the things Cairo said were funny. What happened?"  
Cloud laughed. "Sorry to give you the wrong idea. Actually, on a different note, a lot of the things Cairo said were funny, if you think about it."  
Eveva sighed. "Look, you've forgotten about the subject at hand."  
"Is it really that funny?"  
She laughed. "Even when you're trying to be serious, it's funny, Cloud. Didn't you know that?"  
"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't. Is that why you were all laughing at me that time?"  
Eveva thought for a moment. "No, in fact, the only reason everyone was laughing was because everyone else was. I have no idea why everyone was laughing."  
"Cloud." Cloud looked up at Barrett, who was tapping his wrist, signaling about the time. Cloud nodded.  
"Yeah, right. Listen, Eveva, We gotta go if we want to be there before this storm hits, and by the looks of the clouds, it's going to be one hell of a thunderstorm."  
"Okay. See you when you get here."  
"It'll be 10 minutes."  
"Aren't you 20 minutes offshore?"  
"Trust me. If not 10 minutes, then 5."  
Eveva sighed." Very well then."  
Cloud hung up. He turned to Barrett. "I guess I don't need to tell you who that was?"  
Barrett shook his head and laughed. "I liked the seagulls part. Very nice."  
  
Eveva looked up as the Highwind landed 20 meters away from the house. The 11 people on board quickly assembled on the deck, and climbed down a rope ladder, onto the ground below. Cloud ran over to her.  
"Hello Cloud, got the seagulls out of the engines I see?"  
Cloud looked at her and grinned. "Yeah. Little buggers. We'll be cleaning the engines for days."  
Eveva laughed. "Oh, how wonderful. Please don't tell me what's for dinner tonight. You were only kidding right? You didn't really get seagulls through the engines did you?"  
Cloud shook his head. "No, we didn't. I was only kidding."  
"You'd wanna be."  
Everyone else ran over. Aeris looked up at Eveva, who was standing on Scarlet's verandah.  
"What are you talking about?"  
Cloud looked at Eveva. She smirked. "What's for dinner tonight."  
"What is for dinner tonight?"  
"Seagull patté."  
"You're kidding, right?"  
"Of course I am," Eveva exclaimed, laughing, "You don't really think we'd be having Seagull patté, do you?"  
Aeris shook her head and sighed. "Well, is Scarlet here?"  
Eveva nodded. "Yeah." She turned around to face the house. "Scarlet! They're here now!"  
Scarlet walked out onto the verandah. "Well. How nice of you to visit me." She laughed. "As you can probably see, I now have nothing to do with any form of Mako Energy."  
Cloud nodded and approached her. "We never had much of a problem with each other that much, did we."  
Scarlet looked at him smugly. "Well, you did blow my greatest weapon up in my face, and in the process destroyed my sense of pride and killed my partner; despite how clueless he was, and you caused me to lose my job by forcing Shinra under; but I didn't ask you here to fight with you. Instead, Eveva has advised me to let go. So I have." She turned and looked at Cairo. "Cairo, I presume? I've heard a bit about you."  
Cairo smirked. "The Shinra were the biggest losers on the planet." Elena and Reno appeared on the verandah. Elena pointed at Cairo. "Remind me to kill you later on."  
Cairo sneered at her. Scarlet looked up at the clouds coming in from across the sea.  
"Oh, not another thunderstorm." She looked at Cloud and sighed. "You sure picked a time to come, you know, it's right in the middle of the thunderstorm season down here."  
Cloud shrugged. "It was a bad time for all of us. No-one was ready for it."  
"Ready for what?"  
"Did anyone explain what the problem is this time?"  
Scarlet shook her head slowly. "No, but, let's not talk out here, no doubt it's going to start raining before long, and we don't want to get caught out in it." She headed inside. "Come on in."  
They all followed her inside the house. It was big inside, and there was no signs to tell that the owner was once one of the most formidable of the Shinra Department heads, and was the head of the department that designed all of the high - tech weapons that Shinra used. Scarlet had changed a lot. Scarlet entered the living room and motioned for them to sit down.  
"I guess, it's a long story."  
Cloud nodded. "And a very unbelievable one too."  
Scarlet shook her head. She was about to say something, when suddenly a huge crack of thunder crashed overhead.  
Almost strait after, rain began to pour down. Scarlet looked out the window.  
"I sure hope that nobody is stupid enough to be out in this storm."  
Elena walked up to the window. "Actually, I think someone is out there."  
Scarlet looked out. "What are you talking about? I can't see anyone."  
"Come and have a better look."  
Scarlet got up and squinted out the window.   
"You shouldn't squint - it'll give you wrinkles." someone said.  
Eveva elbowed the culprit, who was standing behind her. "Cairo!"  
Scarlet shook her head. "I can sort of see something just past the airship, but I can't make it out." She turned back to the others. "If it really bothers you, I guess someone could go out there, although I really don't know who would want to."   
Elena shrugged. "It only bothers me that they could get hurt; but I'm not going out there."  
Aeris shook her head. "I'm not that curious."  
Tifa nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Me either."  
Scarlet sighed. "Well, it's my land, I guess I should go out there, but it is a bit dangerous."   
Cloud stood up and picked up his sword. "Well, it's beginning to get to me. I'll go."  
Scarlet shrugged worriedly. "You don't have to; but if you really must, be careful."  
Cloud nodded and walked out. Scarlet followed as far as the verandah, and waited there. Cloud covered his head and ran out into the rain as another clash of thunder boomed above them. He ran over the wet grass in the direction Scarlet had pointed out. He had just gotten past the airship when he heard Scarlet shout. He looked back and saw her pointing behind him. He turned around and was surprised by a figure in black standing directly behind him. Sephiroth grinned and pushed Cloud to the ground.   
He stood over him and looked down. "Well. What a surprise. It's a bit wet out here, don't you think?"  
Suddenly the first lightning bolt of the storm flashed overhead. Cloud got slowly to his feet, never once taking his eyes off his advisary. Sephiroth shrugged calmly. "You will probably notice that I am unarmed. It is because I am not exactly, stupid. Metal, like a sword or armor conducts electricity. Lightning is attracted to such conductors."  
Cloud glared at him. "No matter, I could take you out now and have it over with before the lightning strikes, and I may still survive."  
Sephiroth grinned evilly. "Do you think I didn't think of that? Lightning can strike within a fraction of a second - do you think you can hit me fast enough and cheat death at the same time?" Sephiroth laughed.  
Cloud narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you up to? No-one in their sanity would be out here in a thunderstorm, unarmed and unafraid."  
Sephiroth looked at him coolly. "Did you ever take to think that maybe I'm not sane?"  
Cloud gritted his teeth. "Are you trying to drive me insane?"  
Sephiroth shook his head and laughed. "Oh, come now Cloud. If I were to drive you insane, it would take all the fun out of this torment now wouldn't it?"  
He turned and walked off, disappearing into the thickening sheet of rain. Cloud watched as he left, and heard Scarlet call again. He turned back.   
"Cloud! This weather's getting foul! Come back!"  
Cairo appeared behind her. "Hey, Cloud! You're a walking lightning magnet out there! Why don't you run around for a while waving your sword in the air!" She laughed at her own comment.  
Cloud took a last look over his shoulder and made a break for the house, but, halfway there, he felt a burning pain rip through his shoulder, and suddenly he blacked out, collapsing to the ground.   
Scarlet gasped. "Oh my God - Cloud!" She spun to face Cairo. "Watch what you say to people from now on!"  
Cairo bit her lip and ran out into the rain, as Aeris and Tifa came running out.  
"What happened!?"  
Aeris shook her head. "I don't know! There was this bright flash, and then Cloud fell!"  
Cairo came back, with Cloud in her arms. "I'll never be a smart - ass to him again if he's all right."  
Tifa helped her bring him inside. "That's what you said last time - and that time before that, and the time before that too."  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Oh, thank God."  
Tifa sighed as Cloud opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head. Scarlet and Eveva walked in.   
"How're you feeling?" Scarlet kneeled down in front of him. "Are you okay?"  
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I guess I'm all right. I must've got hit by lightning - just like Sephiroth said I would. I hate to say it, but luring me out there like that was pretty intelligent."  
Eveva smirked. "Yeah. And you going out there in the first place was pretty intelligent too." She crossed her arms and thought for a moment. "So that was Sephiroth out there? What was he doing?"  
Cloud shrugged and winced. "Don't know. All he said was that I would probably get struck by lightning - I told him he had to be insane, and he said that maybe he was. Oh yeah. And something about having fun tormenting us."  
Scarlet smiled. "Well, if he wants to be tricky with us, then I can't see why we can't pull a few ourselves."  
Suddenly Scarlet and Eveva were pushed aside as Cairo burst in. She ran over and hugged Cloud tightly.  
"Oh, this is great! You're alive!"  
Cloud tried to push her aside. "Cairo! What on Earth?!"  
Tifa laughed. "I guess she meant what she said about being nice to you."  
Cloud pushed the dragon away and laughed. "If she's going to be like this - I don't think I'd be able to handle it!"  
Cairo let go and grinned. "Sorry 'bout what I said about wavin' your sword around in the air. Didn't think anything would come of it."  
Cloud shrugged. "You're forgiven."  
Cairo smiled and ran out, leaving everyone lost for words. Eveva laughed. "Well. That sure was freaky."  
Cloud nodded. He turned to Scarlet. "Have they explained everything yet?"  
"Yes."  
Cloud nodded. "And?"  
Scarlet sighed. "I guess I'll go with you, but I can't fight though - I'm not built for it."  
Cloud shrugged. "No matter."  
Scarlet laughed. "Just give me a minute."  
As she left, Eveva laughed. She turned to Cloud. "What are you trying to do? Create your own Ex - Shinra department or something?"  
Cloud and Tifa laughed. "You know that we need all the help we can get."  
Eveva put her hands on her hips and gave them a skeptical look. Then she smiled and walked out, following Scarlet and Cairo.   
Cloud turned to Tifa. "Just a question, do you have any idea why all the women in Shinra are blondes?"  
Tifa looked at him and thought for a moment. "That's a good question."  
  
Cloud watched as Reno, Elena, Eveva and Scarlet came into the lobby, talking loudly among themselves.  
He watched them for a moment. "Why do you 4 always hang around each other?"  
Reno looked at him and smiled. "Birds of a feather flock together."  
Eveva turned to Elena. "Oh, gawd."  
Elena grinned in reply.  
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
"One for all and all for one."  
Scarlet scoffed and put a hand on her forehead.  
Cloud shook his head. "Still don't get it."  
Reno shrugged smugly. "We're all Ex - Shinra employees, who better to always be around?"  
Elena leaned forward and turned to him. "Reno?" she called in a sweet voice.  
He looked at her. "Yeah?"  
"You are such a dick head."  
  
Cairo swung her tail lazily to and fro, and yawned. Yuffie sat down next to her.  
"Could it get any more boring?"  
Cairo looked at her out of the corner of her eye and half - grinned. "Probably."  
They were on the deck of the Highwind, and the midday sun heated the steel deck area considerably. They were supposed to be keeping watch, but neither of them seemed interested in their duties. Cairo yawned again and sighed. Yuffie leaned against her.  
"How can you stand this heat?"  
Cairo answered her by yawning.  
"Cloud must really hate us."  
Cairo slid her smooth, lizard - like head towards her. "And you say that because?"  
Yuffie shrugged. "He made us sit out here, looking for nothing, in the hot sun."  
Cairo promptly opened her wings, using them as shades.  
"Thanks."  
Cairo nodded.   
Yuffie stretched her arms. "You don't talk much, do you. Unless you're being smart, that is."  
Cairo looked at her and grinned. "I've been described as very catatonic and pessimistic."  
"I heard that."  
Cairo stretched. "Yeah. But all the same, if Cloud didn't want us here, we wouldn't be here. So he mustn't hate us." She lazily got to her feet. "It's just that we aren't exactly his favorite people in the world." She looked out over the railing at the mountains. "Hate is such a strong word."  
Yuffie grinned. "What do you think of him?"  
Cairo shrugged. "Who, Cloud? He's not that bad. I have been a little rude to him."  
"A little?"  
Cairo laughed. "Okay, very rude."  
"What about Barrett?"  
"Don't like him much. Too brawny for my liking."  
"What about Tifa and Aeris?"  
"Sugar and Spice, huh? Yeah, they're all right."  
"What about Cid?"  
Cairo grinned and looked at her. "He's the only human being that I know who can fly - a plane that is, the same way a bird flies, or a dragon flies. He's pretty cool."  
"What about me?"  
"You're a smart ass, like me. Not bad I'd say."  
"Eveva?"  
Cairo pointed at Yuffie. "Now, there's a good one. Eveva is a weird one. That girl has some serious issues."  
Yuffie laughed. "What about Reed?"  
Cairo laughed as she answered. "What is this? 20 Questions?"  
"Getting close to it. Well?"  
Cairo was about to speak, when she was interrupted by a shout from below.   
"Hey up there! Mind if I join y'all?"  
Cairo looked down. "Well I never. Speak of the Devil."  
  
Cloud looked up from the desk he was sitting at as Cairo and Yuffie entered the room.   
"What are you two doing down here? Didn't I put you on watch?"  
Cairo grinned. "Well, we found something."  
Yuffie reached around the door frame and grabbed something. She pulled a figure sharply into the room, and laughed. The young man looked at her strangely and rubbed his arm. He was dressed in a dark blue top, and grey trousers. In one hand he carried an unloaded crossbow. Brushing his dark brown hair back, he grinned at Cloud in recognition.   
"Aww. Looks like you guys started the party without me!"  
Cloud grinned back. "Reed! What a surprise. Where did you fall from?"  
Reed sighed and put his crossbow on his belt. "On my way back to Icicle Inn from Junon, I got wind of a rumor about Weapon Clones, and I thought, I bet Cloud and 'is mates would be in on that if it were true, so, I found out more about it, and I was ridin' through the area, when I saw Highwind. And here I am."  
He looked around. "I've seen everyone else on the airship already, even those Shinra tag alongs, and Aeris, who I never in a million years thought I'd ever see her pretty face again."  
Cloud smiled at him. "Those Shinra tag alongs were encouraged by 'guess who'."   
Reed laughed. "Oh, young Eveva? Speakin' of which - where is the little lass? I didn't see her, or her guard dog, Red XIII"  
Cloud thought for a moment. "Oh, that's right. She and Red XIII are on scout duty. They went off to inspect an old Mako Reactor that mysteriously started up again."  
Reed shook his head. "What's the bet that she either gets caught or doesn't come back at all?"  
Cloud laughed. "Eveva might be manipulative, sneaky and smoked out, but she's not the type to get caught. All the annoying and sneaky little things she's done in the past that I've wished I'd caught her for."  
Reed grinned. "Care to wager?"  
"Okay then, how much?"  
"50 gil that she gets caught."  
"You're on." Cloud leaned back in his chair and laughed. "Despite how I described her, I have as much faith in her as I do with everybody else on this airship."  
"I gotta hand it to ya Cloud, if she knew you'd just said that, I don't think she'd ever give you a pint of trouble again"   
Cloud shrugged. "We all like her just the way she is. She doesn't need to change for anybody."  
Reed smiled "Aww, how sweet. So you do like her a lot more than you let on, don't you?"  
"Let's just say, that I think that all those times I was nasty to her, I think I was a little harsh." Cloud sighed. "Will you be staying with us, Reed, or are you just passing through?"  
"Oh, I think that I might just hang around a little longer, after all, we did make a bet, didn't we."  
Cloud laughed as Reed, Cairo and Yuffie turned and left the room.   
  
"Cloud! Are you up there?"  
Cloud looked over the railing at the two people on the ground below and dropped the ladder down. He looked at Reed and grinned.   
"They're back."  
Shortly after, Eveva and Red XIII climbed over the railing and onto the deck. Cloud smiled at them.  
"Welcome back you two. Did you find anything?"  
Eveva nodded. "Yeah. Rufus is using the reactor. Him, Whitehall and Saharus are breeding the Weapon Clones in there." She looked at Reed. "Well. What a surprise. Hello Reed."  
He smirked. "Did you get caught?"  
Eveva laughed. "Me? Get caught? Who are you kidding! I never get caught."  
He turned to Red XIII. "Did she get caught."  
Red XIII closed his eyes and shook his head. Reed crossed his arms.  
"All right, Cloud. You win the bet."  
Eveva looked at them. "What bet?"  
Reed handed 50 gil over to Cloud.  
"What bet?"  
Cloud grinned. "Just proving that I have a lot of faith in you, Eveva."  
"What bet?!"  
"Reed bet me 50 gil that you'd either get caught or not come back at all," Cloud began, "And I told him otherwise."  
Eveva smiled at him. "So you do believe in me."  
Cloud shrugged. "Nah, I just figured that you'd be too sneaky to get caught."  
Cloud ducked away and laughed as Eveva hit him.  
"Aww, sorry Eve. I didn't mean it."  
Eveva put her hands on her hips. "Don't be stupid."  
Reed couldn't resist. "You know I love you!"  
Eveva looked at him, shocked. She chased him inside and down the stairs, leaving Red XIII and Cloud up on the deck. Tifa backed out of the door a moment later.   
"What's with those two? They almost bowled me over back there!"  
Cloud laughed. "Oh, just Reed's sense of humor. Eveva got a little over offended."  
"Did she catch him?" Red XIII questioned, looking up at Tifa.  
Tifa giggled. "Yeah. She caught up with him at the bottom of the stairs, knocked him over and sat on him, demanding an apology."  
Cloud shook his head and laughed, and grabbed the railing as the Highwind's engines gunned, and it lifted off the ground.   
Tifa sighed. "Where to now?"  
"Bone Village. We got a call from the dig foreman. I think Rufus' little pets are on the move."  
  
Cloud, Eveva and Tifa walked into the Bone Village excavation site, and were met by the panicky dig foreman as they did so.   
"Thank God you're here. Some huge monster crashed through here and completely tore up the town! We lost all of our finds and our equipment has been destroyed!"  
Cloud glanced up and saw that all of the dig sites and buildings had been trampled. Huge two - toed footprints that you could fall into and break your neck were everywhere.  
"You get a look?"  
The foreman nodded. "Yeah. It was probably 20 feet. And had these huge fangs and was very stubby. Kinda like a Gagighandi, but with no tail and clumsier. It headed into the mountains."  
Eveva put her staff down at the base of a tree and tried to climb up, but she couldn't quite reach. She turned to Cloud. "Cloud, can you give me a hand?"  
Cloud walked up and helped her grab one of the branches. She quickly climbed up to the top, and looked out over the forest - or rather, what was left of it.  
"What can you see?" Cloud called up to her.  
"Almost nothing. But there is something. Certain areas of the forest have been trampled, like something really big just decided to take a walk in the park, and the forest was in the way. But the funny thing is - then they just stop."  
Cloud looked at her as she jumped down, perplexed. "Just stop? You mean as in, no more?"  
Eveva nodded slowly. "Yes, Cloud. As in 'no more'."  
Cloud thought for a moment. "Well, we can't do anything more here. We'll have to take a look from the air."  
Tifa nodded. They turned and left, to leave the site to get itself back underway.  
  
"Okay. Tifa, Aeris and I - what is it Eveva?"  
Eveva wandered in, looking lost. "I can't find Andromeda."  
Cloud crossed his arms. "Where did you see it last?"  
Eveva thought for a moment. "In Bone Village."  
"That's probably where you left it."  
She sighed. "But I can't go right now, I'm busy at the moment."  
"Doing what?"  
"I'm helping Scarlet go through some old Shinra computer files to see if there's anything we can use against Rufus. You know, like non - Mako reliant weapons, nasty little chemicals that we can slip under his nose, and stuff like that."  
Aeris looked at the clock. "There's still an hour until we have to leave, what if I go get it for you?"  
"You'd do that?" Eveva crossed her arms. "Thanks."  
Elena stood up. "I'll go too. I've got nothing else to do. Come on Cid, you're coming with us."  
Cid drew on his cigarette. "Why don't you ask your boyfriend to go instead?"  
Elena forced him up. "Because A; he's not here at the moment, and B; he's not my boyfriend."  
Cid groaned. "Yeah I'm sure he's not. Always up there havin' a little pow - wow on deck."  
"That's not funny Cid."  
Cid grinned and walked out. Aeris laughed and turned to Eveva.   
"You owe us, you know."   
The two women walked out, following Cid, leaving Eveva with Cloud and Tifa. Cloud walked up behind Eveva.  
"It's not like you to lose something as important as Andromeda. Is something wrong?"  
Eveva turned around and looked at Cloud. 'Should I tell him?'. Cloud looked at her sternly, but calmly.  
"Just a question, would you ever consider letting the feud with Sephiroth go?"  
Tifa had been sitting off side, indifferent to their conversation. But suddenly her attention was roused. Cloud looked at Eveva sharply, but then his gaze softened.  
"Why? What's on your mind?"  
Eveva looked away. "A few things."  
Cloud thought for a moment. "I guess, it would depend upon the circumstances. But I really doubt it. I'm sure you have a reason for asking?"  
Eveva looked down solemnly. "Not really. I just thought of it, that's all."  
She turned quickly and left the room swiftly. Cloud watched her leave.  
"She's hiding something."  
Cloud turned quickly to see Tifa get up. He had completely forgotten that she was still in the room.  
He nodded. "Maybe. But she probably wont say anything because she thinks that we don't trust her."  
Tifa sighed. "You want me to talk to her?"  
Cloud sighed. "If you want to."  
Tifa walked out and down the hallway to the room where Scarlet and Eveva were going through the files. She leaned in the doorway and motioned for Eveva to come. Tifa led Eveva into one of the other rooms.   
Eveva looked at her. "What is it?"  
"Sit down."  
Eveva sat down in one of the chairs. "Yeah?"  
"I want to talk to you."  
"About what?"  
Tifa pulled up a chair and sat across from her. "Eveva, why do you hide things from us?"  
Eveva looked away. Tifa sighed. "I know you probably think we don't trust you, but -"  
Eveva shook her head. "It's not that."  
Tifa leaned back, a little curious. "What is it then?"  
"I just have to think about what I want to say, and when I want to say it. Saying something the wrong way can upset people."  
Tifa shook her head. "Not saying anything at all can upset people also, you know. If there's something you have on your mind, you can tell us you know. Cloud isn't going to get upset."  
Eveva looked up at her. "You care a lot about him, don't you?"  
Tifa looked at her quickly, trying to find her angle. "W - what did you say?"  
Eveva shook her head. "You see, we all have things that we don't want to tell people until the right time, don't we Tifa?"  
Tifa looked at the floor, surprised. 'How had she found out?'. Tifa decided to ask her one.  
"Are you in any way related to Sephiroth?"  
Although Eveva didn't break the eye contact she had with Tifa, there was a flicker of surprise in her eyes. She shrugged and shook her head.   
"I have no idea. I could be. That's what I'm trying to find out. Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed that I have a resemblance to him." She looked at Tifa and grinned. "Am I right, Tifa?"  
Tifa smiled and shook her head. "Sneaky," she laughed, "How many conversations do you listen into?"  
Eveva giggled cheekily. "Who says that I do the listening in?"  
Tifa laughed and grinned. "Okay, go on."  
Eveva got up and walked to the door, still giggling. She turned to look back at Tifa. "Don't worry. I wont say anything to Cloud."  
She was about to walk off, when she fell against the doorframe as the Highwind suddenly shook violently.  
"What happened!?"  
Tifa jumped up and ran out. "We're on the ground - it must be an earthquake!"  
The two ran up onto the bridge. Cloud was at the controls, trying to get the airship off the ground before the tremors shook it to pieces. He gunned the engines, and the Highwind lifted off the ground with a shudder. Tifa and Eveva ran up to him as the others entered the bridge. Tifa stood next to him and looked out at the countryside.  
"What was that?"  
Cloud shook his head and forced one of the levers down that started up the main engines.   
"This area isn't on a fault line. They don't get earthquakes around here."  
Eveva looked out. "Could there have been a rockslide? What about the town?"  
Cloud looked at her. "Aeris."  
Tifa turned to them. "She, Elena and Cid were out there. Someone's going to have to go out and find them."  
Cairo winced and scratched her head. "Well, I guess this is my card. I'll go."  
Cloud nodded. "Great. Thanks. We'll take the Highwind and check the slopes for the cause of the earthquake."  
Cairo nodded and left quickly. Cloud took the wheel.   
"I have a funny feeling about this."  
  
Cairo flapped her wings and landed semi - successfully on the huge pile of rubble that covered what was once Bone Village. She rubbed her head   
"Holy hell." Cairo kicked aside a rock. "This place has gone to hell."   
She spun around. "Aeris! Cid! Elena! You 'ere!?"   
Cairo waited but didn't receive an answer. She leaned down and pushed aside a few more rocks.  
"Damn. I hope they didn't get caught in this."  
Cairo dug through the rocks as fast as she could, trying to find the three of them.  
"Aeris? You here? Oh, come on, please don't be hurt!"  
She furiously smashed through the nearby rocks.  
"Cairo, what are you doing?"  
Cairo spun around and stood up. Aeris, Elena and Cid were standing about 6 yards away, at the edge of the rubble. Elena was trying not to laugh. Cairo put a hand behind her head in embarrassment.  
"Oh."  
Aeris smiled and walked up to her. "Were you worried about us?" Cairo smiled diffidently.   
"Sorta."  
Elena and Cid also came up. Cid flicked the butt of his cigarette away.  
"Nah. I ain't about to get buried under this crap. Not while I got and airship to run and a job to do."  
Elena nodded. "There's no way we can get Andromeda now. It's probably in a dozen pieces. We've got to go back. There's nothing out here now."  
Cairo nodded. A sudden flare shot up from out of the pile of rocks, and a large, snake - like dragon formed out of the rubble. They looked up at it in surprise.   
"Well. Eveva will be upset. Her staff is non - existent anymore." She looked down at them. "You were lucky to have escaped this landslide."  
Aeris blinked in surprise. "What - who are you?"  
"The guardian summon Gaishiiaa," she purred, trying her best not to sound intimidating. She looked around, turned and left. Aeris shook her head as she left.   
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder."  
  
The Highwind moved slowly above the mountainside. Vincent looked down and shook his head.   
"The entire side of the mountain has slid away. I hope that Aeris and her group are all right."  
Cloud nodded grimly. He jumped as the ring of the PHS broke the silence. Answering it, he sighed in relief at the sound of Aeris' voice.  
"Cloud, it's Aeris. There's nothing down here. We're going to come back now. Can you come and get us?"  
"Yeah. We've seen all we need to see up here. We'll be there in 15 minutes."  
He put the PHS away and turned to Tifa.  
"What's the bet that earthquake wasn't natural?"  
Tifa shrugged in bewilderment. "You mean, explosives?"  
He nodded. "Only Rufus would have access to the amount of explosives needed for a blast like that. And if he did cause it, he was aiming it at the town. Look."  
He pointed at the path the rocks had fallen.   
"Down the mountainside, plowed through the forest, strait over the top of the town and then stopped."  
Scarlet thought for a moment. "Well, maybe the diggers saw something, and Rufus didn't want them to tell, so he wiped out the town, and anything else that gave evidence. Look, you see where the footprints were? That's the forest that was destroyed by the rockslide."  
Cloud nodded. Turning the wheel, he pushed the accelerator lever, and the Highwind roared off, to pick up Aeris, Elena, Cid and Cairo.  
  
"None of it's working."  
To no amount of power, the materia wasn't responding. They had tried everything. Reed tossed it aside.   
"Not working. Not even glowing."  
Tifa leaned on the desk. "As useless as regular rocks."  
Eveva shook her head. "I told you before. Andromeda had the materia spirit in it. Without Andromeda, the materia wont work."  
Aeris shook her head. "We need our materia. How can we use it now?"  
"What about other materia?" Yuffie looked up. "Would all materia be useless?"  
Eveva nodded slowly. Cairo blinked as she looked at Eveva from behind.  
"What about that one?"  
Eveva spun around. "What one?"  
"That funny colored one, in your clip. It's still glowing."  
Eveva reached behind her head and removed the materia from the clip. The Rainbow Materia glowed steadily, but differently.  
"I don't know."  
Reed shrugged. "I've heard tonnes of stories on my travels. One was about how magic can't be eliminated. Even if all the magic and materia is destroyed, there will always be some form of magic to survive, to restore the rest. Maybe that's why it's still glowing."  
Eveva shrugged as Vincent came in.  
"Not to intrude, but we have a guest."  
Vincent motioned for them to follow. Up on deck, the rest of them stood with Gaishiiaa crouched solemnly at one end. She looked up as they arrived.  
"You have probably noticed that your materia no longer has power. Because materia is a complex form of magic, I cannot restore it's powers."  
Eveva approached her. "But Gaishiiaa, magic can't be destroyed."  
Gaishiiaa sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Eveva, there is no more magic."  
Eveva shook her head. "No, there's always something magic."  
She held up the Rainbow Materia. Gaishiiaa took it, surprised.  
"It caught the materia power." Gaishiiaa turned it over in her hands. "I may be able to do something after all."   
Gaishiiaa waved her hand over it and it glowed blue, before it separated into two orbs: a rainbow coloured materia and a glowing aqua orb. Gaishiiaa took the aqua orb and manipulated it into a long shape, and the aqua glow faded away, leaving a long staff, with 4 gold dragons at one end, holding a glowing greenish - blue orb in place. The shaft was red, but at the top end, it was pink and black striped, and the other, yellow, with blue stripes, criss crossing the yellow. There was a silver spear - like point at this end.  
Gaishiiaa handed the staff and the rainbow materia back to Eveva. "Neo Armageddon - the resurrection staff. Please, don't lose this one, it is very powerful, it can resurrect anything from people to the Weapons."  
"Hey look." Tifa looked down at the materia she had been holding. "It's glowing again."  
Gaishiiaa smiled and whispered something in Eveva's ear. She nodded. Gaishiiaa moved to the edge of the railing.   
"Good luck. I hope you succeed in your mission."  
Then she bounded over the side and disappeared into the forest below.  
  
"What do you mean, sir?"  
Rufus paced the room, and turned to Whitehall.  
"I want you to create a 'new' Ultimate Weapon. Different from the last. Stronger, but obedient."  
Whitehall was silent for a moment. "Is that possible?"  
Rufus looked at him. "Make it possible."  
Whitehall turned away. "You aren't satisfied with the current specimens?"  
Rufus nodded. "Oh, I do like your work, Professor. But I want something more powerful. The old Weapons were destroyed. You do remember that we had to blow the Sapphire Weapon up, don't you?"  
Whitehall looked at him, confused. "Which one? The original or the clone?"  
"Both." Rufus shook his head. "I want this one to be superior to the other Weapons."  
"How do you plan to do that?"  
"I don't know - combine the strongest points of all the other Weapons into one. Just do it."  
Whitehall nodded solemnly and left the room. Rufus turned to the cloaked man in the corner.  
"Your plan is too bold. It risks backfire," the man said darkly, looking up.  
Rufus motioned to him. "Why do you say that?"  
Saharus shook his head. "Why do you think the Ultimate Weapon was named the Ultimate Weapon?"  
Rufus shrugged. "Because it was Ultimate?"  
Saharus nodded. "And you plan to improve it? And make it obey? It is like trying to clone nature. It cannot be done, without fault."  
Rufus grinned. "Saharus. You have no vision. I knew a man once who's dullness made him second - rate. I hope that his lack of perspective does not come out in you."  
"Sir, I have opposed this from the start, but I will go along with this, because I may have my revenge on Cloud for killing Sephiroth and Tarkin. But I still believe that it cannot be done."  
"I can try."  
"But it will be to no avail."  
Rufus ignored the last comment and walked into the hallway. Heading down, he entered the last door on the left - hand side. He walked up behind Whitehall, who looked up hopefully, wondering if Rufus had changed his mind.  
Rufus looked at the computer screens. "Keep working. I want it to be ready as soon as possible."  
  
Tifa looked out at the mountains as the sun rose up along the top. She sighed and walked inside. It was early morning, and few of the others were awake. She sat down in a chair in the main lobby. Yawning, she turned around as Cait Sith bounced in. He looked at her and smiled, before bouncing off through another door. Tifa smiled to herself, and stood up. Walking onto the bridge, she put her hands behind her head. Cloud was one of the few who was awake - he was often up early anyway, so Tifa wasn't surprised. He was leaning against the wall, talking to Red XIII, who also had the particular habit of waking up ages before anyone else. They had probably both been up since about 5:30 in the morning. Cloud waved to her as she approached them.  
"Morning, Tifa."  
Tifa nodded. "Hi, Cloud. How long have you been up for?"  
Cloud thought for a minute. "About, ten to six."  
Tifa shook her head. "Morning Red XIII."  
Red XIII grinned and took a deep breath. "And what a lovely morning it is."  
Tifa laughed. "Yes, it is, isn't it."  
Cloud looked up at the clock. "6:50."  
Tifa looked up also. "Ten minutes?"  
Cloud nodded. Tifa giggled.   
"I know a great way to wake them up."  
Cloud laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. Start the engines. Hell, they're loud." Tifa nodded. Cid walked up onto the bridge, rubbing his head.   
"Wanna start early today?"  
Cloud shrugged, and Cid switched on the engines. The whole airship jolted as the engines began to warm up.   
Red XII looked to the side. "Wont take them long to get up now. I might go around and count how many of them are complaining about being woken up like that."  
Five minutes later, Eveva, Scarlet and Reed appeared on the bridge, talking very loudly about how they had all been so rudely awoken. Eveva stopped talking long enough as Yuffie walked up.   
She yawned. "Did we hit something?"  
Eveva, Scarlet and Reed started laughing. Cloud shook his head. Not long after, Cairo droopily walked up via the other stairs. Cloud had to try hard not to laugh at the dragon. Cairo blinked slowly and yawned. Cloud grinned.  
"Gee, Cairo, you look a little tired."  
Cairo looked up, confused. "Wired?"  
Cloud waved his hand at her and turned back to Tifa. "Don't worry, go back to sleep."  
Cairo shook her head in confusion, and sat on the floor. Yuffie ran over to her. Cloud pushed himself away from the wall, and walked down the stairs, into the lobby. Cait Sith, Aeris, Elena, Reno, Rude, Barrett and Vincent were congregated in the end of the room, talking about what had to be done today, and how they'd rather alarm clocks to be woken so suddenly by the engines. Barrett turned to Cloud as he walked up to them.  
"Hey, Cloud. How about you givin' us some warnin' before you go settin' off the engines like that again."  
Cloud shrugged and grinned. "What would be the point? The engines were set off to wake you up."  
The others in the room laughed. Aeris sighed.  
"I guess we'd better get off to breakfast then."  
They all nodded and walked off as a group, the subject of their mass conversation now on what was for breakfast. Cloud sighed and put a hand on his head as he watched them leave.  
"Gotta love 'em."  
  
"Has anyone seen Eveva?"  
Scarlet looked around. Cait Sith glanced up.  
"She was here this morning. But we can't worry about that now, We have to plan this."  
Scarlet sighed and turned back to the others.  
"First of all, who's going?"  
Cloud looked up. "Cairo, Elena, Reno, Rude, Cait Sith and I."  
Scarlet nodded. "Oh."  
Cloud tapped his fingers on the table. "Okay. We'll go in and try to get him into a large room, so that we have more room to move in case he lets one of his monsters out on us."  
Yuffie looked up." Other than that, it should be pretty easy, right?"  
Cairo shook her head. "You kidding?"  
"Also," Cloud continued, "We have that extra card to play, Gaishiiaa could turn up at any time."  
Cairo shrugged. "Maybe, although I doubt she would if Eveva wasn't there, I mean, after all, Gaishiiaa is Eveva's summon."  
Elena sighed. "Gaishiiaa isn't really a summon; she protects Eveva. We have very little chance of Gaishiiaa appearing."  
Cloud shook his head as he thought it over. "Okay, where's Eveva?"  
Scarlet shrugged. "Who knows. I said before, no-one knows where she is."  
Cloud looked at the table. "Okay, no worries, we'll have to do without. When we get back, we'll look for Eveva then."  
Elena looked up. "What if she's gone looking for Sephiroth again?"  
Tifa and Aeris whispered something between themselves. Tifa turned to Cloud.  
"Aeris, Red XIII and I will go and see if we can find her."  
Scarlet counted something on her fingers. "Okay, that leaves me, Cid, Barrett, Vincent and Reed here."  
Cloud nodded and stood up. "Don't get up to anything while we're gone."  
Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Yes Cloud. We wont."  
  
Cait Sith bounced up, trying to get up the side of the ledge. The others were all standing watching him, laughing. Yuffie kneeled down and laughed.  
"I told you once before, Cait Sith, you're to fat!"  
Cait Sith stopped jumping and put his hands on his hips.   
"And I replied, to you, Miss Yuffie Kisaragi, that this body is in fact very light!"  
Cloud reached down and helped Cait Sith up. Cait Sith brushed himself off and followed behind the others. Elena turned around and looked back at everyone. Cairo was walking behind Reno, and surprisingly, Cloud as well as Cait Sith had dropped right back behind everyone, leaving her in front. As Reno walked past a large tree, he whacked the trunk with his rod, causing a sudden burst of sparks. Cairo jumped aside, startled by the crack. Elena smirked at Reno, who seemed to think that it was in fact very funny to tease Cairo like that. Everyone stopped to watch the reaction. Cairo was unimpressed.  
"What'd ya do that for, Reno ya twit! We're supposed to be sneakin' in and you're goin' around scarin' the hell outta people!"  
Reno laughed sarcastically. "Ha! You call yourself a person?"  
"You're dopey, Reno, real dopey!"  
"You didn't answer my question."  
Cairo puffed her chest out and reared back, crossing her arms. "Yes, I do!"  
Reno just laughed. "Aren't people supposed to be civilized?"  
Cairo turned away, pretending to be upset, and seriously over doing it.  
"Nobody wants me. Nobody loves me."  
Cloud laughed and walked past her. "How long did it take you to figure that out?"  
Cairo spun around and gaped at him, offended, completely forgetting about Reno.   
"What'd you say!?"  
Elena looked at Cairo and shook her head. "Don't worry about them. They're just being men."  
Cairo found this very funny. Slowly, they worked their way through the trees and undergrowth. Soon they found themselves standing in front of the Launch Pad Reactor. Cloud stepped cautiously out into the open, and signaled for the others to follow. Carefully, they moved across the open space between the trees and the reactor. Cloud glanced inside.  
"It's pretty strange, but there's no-one here. C'mon, let's go."  
The group moved inside watchfully as they checked the doorways before crossing them. Cloud looked through one doorway and saw a huge room, with office boxes some 50 feet off the ground, and all sorts of computers and machines lining the walls, with two huge steel door in the floor. To the far right of the room, the floor dropped away, and in the recess below, were all the cogs and gears that caused the machines in the reactor to run. Cloud slowly walked into the center of the room, followed closely by the others. Suddenly without warning, 3 groups of soldiers appeared out of nowhere and completely blocked them off, blocking all entrances and exits, and behind them was the drop into the gears. They all looked up as the door on one of the lower offices opened. A cruel laugh echoed eerily around the room, and a figure in a white suit appeared at the top of the stairs, just outside the door. The menacing figure walked casually down the stairs to the room below him, and moved into the center on the semi - circle of guards.  
Rufus grinned and laughed again. "Welcome to my parlor."  
  
Scarlet put her head on the table, fiddling lazily with her pen. She yawned and sat up.   
"It's times like these I wish I could fight. Then I wouldn't be sitting here doing nothing, and wasting whatever time I have left in my life doing so."  
Cid leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head and his feet up on the table.   
"The sooner this is over with, the sooner we can all go home."  
Scarlet smiled calmly at him. "Looking for Eveva wouldn't have been that hard, I should have gone with them."  
Cid shook his head. "It's not as easy as you might think. Considering the trouble that girl can get herself into."  
Scarlet tapped the end of her pen on the table. "And out of."  
Cid nodded and laughed. "Why'd ya think she ran off in the first place?"  
Scarlet shrugged. "Could be anything. Sometimes she doesn't have a reason. May be Elena was right, maybe she ran off to find Sephiroth."  
Barrett walked in. "Damn, it's quiet." Scarlet laughed. Barrett sat down next to Cid. "You laugh a lot."  
She shrugged and smiled. Vincent came in and slumped in a chair near Scarlet.   
"No matter how you put it, it is very dull without the others."  
Everyone nodded. Barrett laughed in spite of his boredom.  
"Yeah. I feel the same too."  
Suddenly Reed ran in. "Hey! Hey!"  
Scarlet looked up tiredly. "It's Saturday."  
Reed shook his head. "Don't be dumb. Guess who just rocked up with Gaishiiaa!"  
They all looked up at Reed, who appeared very exited, despite that it was more boring than when Cloud made one of his lecture - like speeches.   
Scarlet sighed and turned back to the others. "You know, no matter how interesting whatever Rufus was said was, I never listened to him."  
Vincent looked at her. "Not once?"  
Scarlet shook her head. "No, why do you think I was always such a bitch?  
I got told off by him on such a regular basis, it wasn't funny. Except, I have more creative ways of taking it out on other people. Unlike that dopey Heidigger -"  
Reed groaned in exasperation. "Come on! Are you really that bored that you can't listen to me!?"  
Barrett looked up at him suspiciously. "What are you on, Reed?"  
Cid drew on his cigarette. "Yeah. How's about givin' us some of them happy pills."  
"Oh, yeah, right. I'm just gonna go and pull them out of my ass. Come on! You have to see it to believe it!"  
Scarlet leaned her head on her hand. "Believe what? You pulling something out of that scrawny little behind of yours? I'm surprised that your shit can fit up there. Your ass is so tiny that we would have to see it to believe it."  
Reed spun around and gritted his teeth in annoyance. "That is not what I meant."  
Scarlet laughed. "Listen, Reed, if you don't want people to twist your words around and use them against you, then you're going to have to be a lot more politically correct."  
"I know it's boring, but if you can stop being immature for 1 minute and listen to me!!"  
Scarlet waved her hand passively at him. "Okay, I'm listening."  
Reed sighed. He was about to continue, when Cid turned to them all.  
"What do you call 3 lesbians stacked on top of each other?"  
Scarlet looked at him quickly. "What was that?"  
"What do you call 3 lesbians stacked on top of each other?"  
"You're not referring to me, are you?"  
"Are you a lesbian?"  
"No, it's just that it came out awfully sudden, and I'm the only woman here. I was going to slap you one if you were."  
Barrett leaned back in his chair and looked out of the corner of his eye at Reed, who was shaking his head at the 4 of them and constantly glancing down the corridor.  
"Ya might not be a lesbian, but you are a flirt. Anyway, dunno. What do you call 3 lesbians piled on top of each other?"  
Cid grinned and looked at Scarlet, so he could watch her reaction. "A block of flaps."  
The three men burst out in laughter, and scarlet just grinned and shook her head. Even Reed managed to smile, and tried not to laugh at the comment."  
They looked up as a strange voice spoke out.   
"Very funny."  
Standing in the doorway, was a figure dressed in a dark blue suit, with long, blackish, grey hair. Scarlet gasped.  
"It's Tseng."  
  
Rufus shook his head. "Well, well, well. Cloud, what a surprise. And if it isn't the Turks. Decided to become good guys I see."  
Reno took a deep breath, trying to control himself. Rufus paced slowly in front of the group, his hands behind his back, holding a shotgun. He looked up at them.  
"I was expecting a visit from you all sooner or later. Have you met my pets, Lovely, aren't they?"  
Cairo stuck her nose up in the air. "Yer a poof, Rufus."  
Rufus looked up and gave Cairo a sarcastic, but casual look of recognition. "Ah, the lizard."  
Cairo's head shot down and she snarled at him. "I'm a dragon, you prick! Get it right!"  
Rufus laughed at her. It was obvious that he thought they were not going to be a problem. It was as though he had something up his sleeve.  
Reno glared at him. "What's your problem, Rufus?"  
Rufus turned to him quickly, his annoyingly bright and enthusiastic mood sobering quickly.   
"I don't know what you're talking about, traitor."  
Reno crossed his arms. "I'm a traitor now, am I?"  
Rufus snapped his fingers, and 3 of the soldiers came forward.  
"Take him."  
The 3 soldiers quickly separated Reno from the rest of the group, surrounding him. Reno remained cool, and lifted his rod. Jabbing one of the guards, there was a burst of sparks, and the guard fell to the ground. With that, the other two guards attacked. Reno managed to duck away from the first strike, but the second time, he got hit in the jaw. He quickly retaliated by punching the guy in the face. Elena and Rude ran over to take the other soldier. Rufus raised an eyebrow at the Turks.  
"Not as wimpy as you used to be I see."  
Reno put his hand to his mouth, to wipe away a trickle of blood. He glared at Rufus and gritted his teeth.  
"Don't you talk. Always getting us to do your dirty work for you."  
Rufus grinned evilly and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. Laughing briefly, he lifted up his shotgun.  
"Traitor."  
Cait Sith thought quickly, throwing his megaphone at Rufus. It hit the gun as he fired, causing Rufus to lose aim. However, Rufus didn't exactly miss, as Rude took the bullet in his arm. He was thrown back, and tripped over the edge, falling into the gears below. Reno ran to the edge and looked down.  
"Rude!!"  
For a moment, he stood there, not moving. Then he clenched his fists and looked over his shoulder at Rufus, who was grinning at his accidental success.  
"You bastard!!!"  
Reno charged him, but he was stopped short as Rufus hit him over the head with the butt of his gun. Reno was struck down and fell back, heavily stunned. Elena looked down at the dead guard at her feet. Reaching down, she removed a grenade from his belt. She pulled the pin.  
"Hey Mr. President! Take this!"   
She threw the grenade and it exploded at Rufus' feet, but he managed to duck away from the major blast. As the smoke cleared, Rufus staggered to his feet, leaning heavily on his shotgun. He pushed himself up shakily, and turned to Elena.  
"So you want to play, do you?"  
Rufus limped over to the side of the room, next to one of the doors. Pushing a button, the two huge steel doors in the floor grated open, and an elevator inside pushed a huge monstrous form into the room.  
"Seeing as you seem to like playing with my monsters, feel free to enjoy yourselves."  
With that, he moved as fast as he could out of the room. The huge monster looked down on them all and roared. Cairo flapped her wings and rose up into the air. She looked down at Cloud.   
"I'll distract it! You get out of here!"  
Cloud nodded and waved to the others to follow him out as Cairo attracted the attention of the creature. It was perhaps 60 feet tall, and it's head was bent over because it barely fit in the room. It looked like the Ultimate Weapon, but more complex and powerful. Cairo was about to leave too, when the Weapon hit her, sending her flying against a wall, and fell onto a thick pipe vent. Yuffie and Cait Sith stood in the doorway, watching.   
Yuffie winced. "Ouch."  
Cairo shook her head and slowly gathered her stamina. She growled at Weapon, and flapped her wings, hovering off the pipe. Suddenly the crystal on her head began to take in energy, glowing brightly. It continued to absorb light, and was beginning to hum loudly while it did so, the hum getting louder as more energy was taken in. Cairo opened her mouth, and a ball of the energy began to form. Suddenly Cairo brought her head down, firing a beam of increasing intensity from her mouth. The whole room filled with light, and Weapon disappeared in the flare. As it faded away, Weapon shook it's head and roared, before crashing through the roof and flying away. Cairo dropped to the ground and landed upright with a bang. Yuffie ran up to her.  
"Geez, Cairo! You sure do have mean breath!"  
Cairo laughed blandly. "You're tellin' me, Yuffie!"  
Cairo looked around the room. The higher offices hadn't been hit by Cairo's Ultima Flare, leaving them relatively undamaged. Squinting, she smirked as she caught sight of a impenitent figure standing in one of the windows. Cairo nastily and threateningly pointed a finger at him. Then she turned and left. Rufus watched her leave. He pounded his fist on the desk in front of him.  
"Damn!!"  
  
Tifa turned and looked as Red XIII slowly stood up. He shook his head and took a deep breath. Aeris looked out at the trees behind them.   
Tifa sighed. "We searched the forest. She isn't there."  
Red XIII groaned in reply. "I still think she's around here somewhere. She's not the type to go too far from the airship."  
Aeris turned to face them and shrugged. "If she was upset in any way, she may have gone further."  
Tifa shook her head. "But no-one did anything to upset her."  
Red XIII yawned and sighed. "It's a nice day. Maybe she just went for a walk."  
Aeris thought for a moment. "Wouldn't she have told someone though?"  
Tifa nodded and put her hands on her hips. "She has to be somewhere."  
Aeris glanced over her shoulder, and instantly ran up to Tifa and grabbed her arm.  
"Tifa, quick!"  
Tifa, Aeris and Red XIII ran into the undergrowth. They watched as Sephiroth walked past, in his usual brisk and nasty manner. Tifa pulled Aeris' sleeve.  
"I know it's crazy, but I want to go talk to him."  
Aeris stared at her. "You're right that's crazy."  
Tifa stood up and walked out behind Sephiroth.   
"Sephiroth."  
Sephiroth turned slowly and looked at her.   
"Well. A surprise this is."  
Tifa put her hands on her hips and looked out the corner of her eye at Aeris and Red XIII, who were still hiding in the bushes. She turned to him.  
"Not that I think you would care, but I want to know where Eveva is."  
Sephiroth grinned. "And what makes you think that I know where she is?"  
Tifa simply glared at him.  
"Okay, no. I do not know her whereabouts. In fact, I am looking for her also."  
Aeris and Red XIII walked out, not being able to resist through their curiosity. Aeris looked mildly curious, but mostly surprised.  
"Why?"  
Sephiroth seemed a little uneasy at the appearance of more people. He took a moment to reply.  
"I need to tie some loose ends. She happens to be one of them."  
Tifa looked at Red XIII, expecting him to inquire. He did.  
"What loose ends?"  
Sephiroth took even longer to answer this question.  
"Personal ones. Now, I have to be on my way."  
He turned and walked away swiftly. The three watched him leave.   
"Talk about one strange hombre."  
They turned as Eveva jumped out of a tree just behind them. She giggled.  
"Sorry to worry you all. I just had to find out why he was looking for me, without asking him in person."  
Tifa put her hand on her forehead. Red XIII looked up at her.  
"I told you we should have looked in the trees."  
  
Cloud looked at Eveva across the table and sighed. Despite the fact that she had caused them worry, Eveva didn't seem to care. Besides. After they had got back from the reactor, no-one cared about much at all. After what had happened. It was so solemn, that Cairo didn't complain at all, even though for once she had a reason to. To add on top of that, they had a surprise guest waiting for them when they got back. Eveva looked at Cloud curiously, for she knew that he wanted to ask her something, but wasn't in any particular hurry to do so. Finally he spoke.  
"Well, I guess you're wondering what I wanted to talk to you about?"  
Eveva paused. "It crossed my mind," she replied quietly, looking at him. Cloud stood up and paced slowly, thinking.  
"Eveva, something troubles me. I believe you know what that is?"  
Eveva lowered her head and nodded. Cloud looked at her.  
"I know someone's already asked you this question, but I want to hear the answer myself. Do you know what I'm going to ask you?"  
Eveva nodded again, pausing before looking up at him. He glanced down at her, and stopped pacing.  
"I know how much you don't want to answer this question, and I know how much you've managed to avoid it. But, not trying to sound mean, you can't get away with it this time."  
Eveva looked away. "This I know."  
'She doesn't want to be here.' Cloud thought. He breathed in deeply.  
"I heard, a long time ago, Sephiroth had a sister. I also heard that she was dead, but it wasn't confirmed. I don't believe that she's dead."   
He looked at her, but she just turned away. So he continued.   
"Would I be correct if I said that she was alive?"  
Eveva nodded slowly.  
"And would I be right if I said that you know her?"  
Eveva was hesitant in answering this question, but she nodded none-the-less. Cloud sat down and leaned across the table.   
"Eveva."  
She looked up wearily.  
"Are you Sephiroth's sister?"  
Eveva turned away. "Please don't make me do this."  
Cloud shook his head. "If you answer the question, you can forget we ever had this conversation."  
Eveva glanced up at him. Cloud looked at her softly.   
"Do you think we'll get upset at you?"  
Eveva shook her head. "No."  
Cloud sighed and walked around. He sat down on a chair facing her.   
"Eveva, please. Just answer the question."  
Eveva looked to the side. "Okay. Yes. Yes, I am."  
  
For the first time as long as they had been together, the dinner table was silent. Dinner was well underway before any of them said a word. Tifa was the first to speak.  
"So what do we do now?"  
Everyone looked up at the voice.   
Cid shrugged. "Ain't nothin' we can do. You saw the way that thing just flicked Cairo aside. And the way it shook off a level 4 limit technique. We don't stand no chance against somethin' like that."  
Barrett shook his head and looked at them all.   
"There must be somethin' we can use."  
Cloud sighed and looked down.   
"I'm sorry everyone. We've lost."  
Eveva's head snapped up sharply. She glared at him and shook her head.  
"No, we have not lost. You may have run out of tricks, but I still have a few cards to play."  
She stood up and clenched her hand in front of her face.  
"If I have to, I will play those cards. Whatever the results that occur. I don't care. I didn't come all this way just to admit defeat to a big-headed screw-up like Rufus. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm in no mood to just sit back and take whatever crap Rufus decides to toss our way!"  
Tifa and Cloud looked at each other, surprised at Eveva's sudden outburst. Eveva angrily strode over to the corner table, and picked up part of the deck of playing cards. She walked to the far end of the table, the end closest to the door, and slammed a card down on the table. The two people closest to her, Scarlet and Vincent jumped at Eveva's irregular hostility. She looked up the length of the table at Cloud.  
"If you intend to follow me, you'd better be a lot smarter than you appear to be."  
With that, she stormed out. Though stunned, Scarlet reached forward and picked up the card. She looked up at Cloud fearfully.  
"If this card means what I think it means, then I suggest we stop her now."  
Cloud looked at her.  
"Why?"  
"It's the black King of Spades."  
  
Eveva walked down the dirt trail, with the same mildly furious pace she had left the dinner room with. She glanced to her right as she came to a fork in the path. Then suddenly she slowed down and her anger dissipated. She looked around, wondering which way she should go. She was about to head left, when a strange, but cute little creature appeared out of the bushes at her feet. It looked up and squeaked at her. Eveva kneeled down and looked at it. It had bright and colourful markings on it's body, which probably meant it was dangerous. With this in mind, she waved her hand in front of it, to see if she had it's attention.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."  
Eveva shot to her feet and whirred around, scaring the creature away. Sephiroth grinned and crossed his arms.  
"Generally if a creature has such bright markings as that, it's likely to be dangerous."  
Eveva looked at him wryly.   
"Why did you warn me out?"  
Sephiroth unfolded his arms and approached her.  
"If it were to kill you, I would never find out what you did with my materia."  
Eveva grinned smugly. "Oh, I think there must've been a little more to it than that."  
Sephiroth looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  
"Rainbow Nerosuferoth's are cute, but don't make very good pets. Eveva, wasn't it?"  
"Depends upon why you want to know."  
Sephiroth grinned. "Well, I've done my good deed for this year."  
Eveva looked at him slyly, out of the corner of her eye.  
"Oh, is that so?" she asked smugly. Then, in a sarcastic but airy voice, she added, "I didn't think the Devil was capable of doing a good deed."  
Sephiroth smirked. "Ouch. You've been practicing."  
Eveva shook her head. "I'm not exactly as much of an angel as everyone thinks I am."  
Sephiroth tried to remain serious. The truth was, she reminded him of himself at that age. Steadfast and disobedient.  
Eveva took something off from around her neck.  
"Do you recognize this?"  
Sephiroth looked at it, shocked. He had given the golden amulet that she was holding to his sister, over 6 years ago.  
"Where did you get that?"  
Eveva closed her hand around the pendant.  
"My brother gave it to me. A long time ago."   
  
Red XIII reached the crossroad first. He stopped short and looked back at Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Barrett and Vincent, who were running up behind him. Red XIII sat down in the middle of the path, looking ahead.  
Cloud sighed. "What is that?"  
Red XIII shook his head. "A Rainbow Nerosuferoth."  
The little creature sat in the middle of the path, in the crook of the fork, out in plain sight, directly across from Red XIII.   
Aeris pointed. "Is that another card?"  
Red XIII nodded slowly and sighed. The Nerosuferoth imitated this movement, also sighing. Red XIII lifted his head in surprise. So did the Nerosuferoth. Aeris laughed and turned to Cloud.  
"Isn't it cute?"  
Cloud nodded sarcastically. "Yeah. Cute. And then they bite you."  
Barrett aimed at it. "Well then, Nerosu-whatever, say good night."  
Tifa pushed Barrett back.  
"No, don't. There must be a reason why a Rainbow Nerosuferoth is guarding the card. There are probably hundreds of cute monsters in this area. Got it?"  
Barrett grumbled something under his breath. Red XIII stood up and slowly approached the little animal. As he neared it, it raised it's paw like a kitten at him. Red XIII carefully took the card. Cloud motioned to him.  
"What card is that?"  
"10 of Spades."  
Cloud thought over this. "This one's hard. 10 of Spades. Rainbow Nerosuferoth."  
Tifa was also thinking about it. "Well, the Nerosuferoth's originate on the Central Continent, near Junon, right. Spades. Don't know."  
Aeris crossed her arms. "What direction was the card facing?"  
Red XIII shrugged. "South, I think."  
Aeris thought for a moment. "Hey, that's right. Spades, South. It's South!"  
Red XIII didn't take his eyes off the Nerosuferoth.  
"What's south of Junon?"  
Barrett waved his hand. "Dunno. South of Junon? Fort Condor, the Ancient Islands, who -"  
Aeris looked at him and laughed. "That's it! The Temple! Let's try there!"  
Tifa looked at the little animal who was making cute squeaking noises at Red XIII.  
"Do you know what it's saying, Red XIII?"  
He shook his head and stood up, walking over to the others, who promptly started laughing. When Red XIII couldn't figure out what they were laughing at, Tifa pointed behind him.  
"I think you've got a new friend, Red XIII."  
Red XIII turned around, and saw that the Rainbow Nerosuferoth had followed him. Red XIII laughed and showed the others why it was doing it. Red XIII had the Influence Materia. Cloud looked very surprised.  
"Where did that come from?"  
Red XIII grinned. "Eveva left it in my room. So I looked after it for her."  
Tifa shook her head. "Oh well."  
Red XIII looked at the little creature.  
"I think I shall keep this strange animal."  
Vincent cocked his head to the side.  
"Is that a good idea?"  
Red XIII shrugged. "I'll put it in some sort of enclosure. Besides. This is a fairly rare creature, you know. I might study it."  
Cloud waved his hand submissively.  
"Whatever. But don't get distracted. Deal?"  
Red XIII nodded. "Let's go find Eveva."  
  
  
"Don't start."  
Scarlet turned to Reno, slightly disappointed.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You know exactly what I mean."   
Scarlet crossed her arms and turned to Elena and Tseng.   
"I sure do wish that Red XIII hadn't brought that thing back with him."  
Reno banged his head against the wall. Elena turned to him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him away from the wall.  
"Don't do that, Reno. You'll give yourself brain damage."  
Scarlet laughed and shook her head. "Too late."  
Elena looked at her in contempt. "Scarlet. I'm sort of trying to heighten his self-esteem, and you're trying to lower it."  
Scarlet sighed. "Okay, Reno, you haven't got brain damage. You know how I know?"  
Reno looked at her and shrugged.  
"Because you hit your head. If you stubbed your toe, on the other hand....."  
Scarlet trailed off into slight laughter. Elena smirked and hugged Reno from behind.  
"Aww, leave him alone, Scarlet."  
Reno grinned. "Yeah. Leave me alone. I'm fragile."  
Then he turned and put his head against the wall again. Elena sighed in defeat. Cid approached them.  
"Almost there. This time, everyone's leavin' the ship. Cloud'll split y'all into groups."  
Scarlet nodded. Meanwhile, Elena had managed to pull Reno away from the wall by grabbing his hair and pulling it. She looked at Cid.  
"Do you think Eveva's found Sephiroth yet?"  
"All I know is that she's left another card, so, probably."  
Reno grinned and pried Elena's hand off his hair.  
"What does Cloud say about that?"  
Cid laughed. "Well, I'd say he's pretty pissed at the moment."  
They all laughed. Elena half-looked up as Cloud, Tifa and Aeris walked past. She giggled quietly, and waited until they were out of earshot before she spoke again.  
"He looks a little nervous."  
Cid shrugged. "Why do you say that?"  
Reno put a finger up just as she was about to speak.   
"In a nutshell, as they say."  
Elena rolled her eyes. "If Cloud hurts Sephiroth, there's a high chance of Eveva getting more than a little pissed and going totally psycho at him. I'd say he's nervous because if he happens to run into Sephiroth, he's going to need to defend himself, but doesn't want to upset Eveva. So, I guess, for once, he doesn't want a confrontation with Sephiroth. Besides. I think it would be the same vice-versa now, if Sephiroth knows she's his sister."  
Cid nodded. He looked up as he heard Cloud call his name.   
"Gotta go," he said briefly, and ran over to see what Cloud wanted.   
Scarlet looked up at the ceiling.  
"Oh, let's go."  
Tseng glanced up as Cid ran past, up onto the bridge. Not long after, the airship came to a full stop. Elena yawned as the others slowly filled into the lobby. Cloud, Tifa and Aeris appeared at the door to the corridor that led up onto the deck. He didn't even have to silence them. Everyone already knew that Cloud's patience was wearing thin, not to mention that he wasn't exactly in a very pleasant mood. He scanned the room quickly.  
"All right. Cid, you will be going with Yuffie, Vincent and Reed. Reno, Elena, Tseng and Scarlet, you all seem to get along. Red XIII, you, Barrett and Cait Sith are together, and Cairo, you are coming with Aeris, Tifa and I."  
Cairo nodded quietly, without complaint. Cloud looked over them all again.  
"Ever group will take a different area of the island. Cid's group, you will take the forest, Reno, your group will take the remains of the Temple and it's nearby area, Red XIII, your group will go over the plains. My group will take the beach. Understood?"  
There was a little noise in reply, then everyone headed onto the deck, and off the airship.  
  
"What's this?"  
Yuffie reached down and picked up the sheet of paper on the tree stump. Reed took the paper.  
"What the hell?"  
Cid and Vincent looked at it. Reed untied a card from the paper. A 5 of hearts. Reed scratched his head.   
"Normally I'm good at this sorta stuff, but I can't make heads or tails of this."  
"Maybe Cloud's group was supposed to find that one, it looks like Ancients writing," Vincent said, offering a point. Yuffie shrugged and turned to Cid.  
"A 5 of Hearts, a message written in the Ancients writing? What's the deal?"  
Cid shook his head, lighting his cigarette.  
"Dunno. Maybe she's trying to make us think."  
Reed looked around. "Maybe she isn't far away, like we think. Maybe she's watching us, having a little giggle at us, and leaving her clues depending upon what we do."  
Cid looked at him, confused.  
"Ya think she's that smart?"  
  
Elena looked back at Tseng, who had stopped short, his attention diverted.  
"What is it, Mr. Tseng?"  
"I told you not to be so formal, Elena."  
Elena shook her head and sighed. Tseng frowned and looked up at the remains of the outer wall of where the temple once stood. Something white was sticking out of the gap between two of the stone bricks.  
"There is something, up there."  
Scarlet looked up at it.  
"How are we going to get it? Look how high up it is." She turned around. "Right Reno - Reno, what on Earth are you doing?"  
Reno had vaulted up onto the ledge, and was carefully edging his way across the crumbling wall.  
"Reno, are you insane!?" Elena cried up at him.  
Reno grinned, but didn't look down at her.  
"Yep. Totally nuts."  
He reached the rocks where the paper was, and read it.  
"And so was Eveva, to climb up here."  
Scarlet laughed. "Yes, we all know that Eveva's nuts, okay. Now get down before you fall and break your neck."  
"Gee, Scarlet. I didn't think you cared."  
Scarlet put her hands on her hips. "Don't push what little compassion I have for you."  
Reno dropped the note to them, and swung himself down, carefully climbing down the wall. Tseng picked up the note.  
"It's from her. The card is a 5 of Diamonds. And the note is coded."  
Elena took it. "So who's the decoding expert?"  
Reno dusted himself off. "Reed's pretty good at that sort of stuff. Doesn't he do those cryptic puzzles in his spare time?"  
Scarlet motioned towards her. "What's it in? Letters or numbers?"  
Elena shook her head. "Both. But mainly numbers. It's some sort of a grid, and a keyword, with a huge list of numbers."  
Tseng shook his head. "I think the other group was supposed to find this one."  
  
"Give me that, you ugly bastard!"  
Barrett hit the Under Lizard multiple times on the head, trying to make it surrender the paper it had in it's mouth. Red XIII and Cait Sith sat back and watched him, tittering quietly between themselves. The saber-toothed creature wasn't ready to give up the paper. Cait Sith laughed.  
"Maybe you should shove something rather unpleasant in it's mouth."  
Red XIII looked at him and laughed.   
"Of what nature was that remark?"  
Barrett ignored the two behind him, and pulled harder on the paper. The Under Lizard let go suddenly, causing Barrett to fall back, and the Under Lizard pounced on him. Promptly, Cait Sith and Red XIII sprung forward, and attacked the creature until it collapsed. Barrett looked at the paper. Okay. A card, and, aarrrg! It's got drool on it!"  
Cait Sith laughed and took it. He stopped laughing when he looked it over.  
"Well, even though I'm Shinra property, I can't read this."  
Barrett wiped his hands on the grass and stood up.  
"Why not?"  
Cait Sith shook his head.  
"It's in Shinra Document Format, or, SDF, an older Shinra File Security Code. They were used to stop hackers who broke into the computers from reading the enclosed information. It was used on most of the Weapons Department's files and the Space Program files. Very high security. It involves certain letters of the alphabet being substituted for numbers. There was a newer version, that involved a keyword or keywords with some of the substituted letters in it. But the older format doesn't Before Shinra went under, the Weapons Department still used the original SDF. So, that would mean that Scarlet would probably be able to decipher this."  
Red XIII sighed, very confused. He turned to Barrett.  
"Do you get it?"  
Barrett shook his head.  
"He lost me."  
Red XIII looked at Cait Sith.  
"What about the card?"  
Cait Sith held it up.  
"5 of Spades."  
  
Cloud sighed and turned to Aeris. Tifa bit her lip and looked up at the cliff lining the side of the beach. Cairo dove down from above. Cloud looked at her.  
"Anything?"  
Cairo handed him a note. "Only this."  
Cloud took one look at the note and shook his head.  
"My God."  
Aeris and Tifa ran over.  
"What is it?"  
Cloud showed them the note. Aeris shook her head, a perplexed look on her face.  
"What on Earth?"  
Tifa put a hand on her head. "Oh."  
Cairo shrugged and laughed.   
"The whole thing is crypted. Oh, by the way, the card was 6 of Clubs."  
Cloud took a close look at the paper.  
"It looks like all the words are jumbled."  
Tifa thought for a moment. "You know, Cait Sith is pretty jumbled also. It might be a shot in the dark, but maybe he can work out what it says."  
Cairo nodded. "What about the numbers under the words?"  
Aeris shrugged. "Maybe the positions of the words are jumbled too. The numbers might be what order they're supposed to go in. But, let's leave it to Cait Sith."  
Cloud turned around. "We should head back now. Eveva's not here. It's obvious she was, but not anymore."  
Cairo turned to Aeris and Tifa and shook her head. Tifa sighed.  
"Yeah. You're right. Let's go."  
  
The four groups stood on the deck of the Highwind, deciding upon what to do with the codes. Cloud stepped forward.  
"It's a little obvious that Eveva made these puzzles to get some distance between her and us, because they are obviously very difficult." With a laugh, he added, "She wasn't kidding when she said she hopes we're smarter than we appear to be."  
Reed handed Aeris the letter that Yuffie had found. She shook her head.  
"This isn't the ancients writing. I don't know what it says."  
Cairo was looking over her shoulder. She stared at the paper for a moment.   
"Hey, I think I've got it!" she cried, and pointed to the paper. "That's a D. And that's an E. Do you see the pattern?"  
Aeris squinted at it for a moment. Then she smiled.  
"Oh, I see now. Yes, you're right!"  
"What does it say, Aeris?" Tifa asked. Aeris ran her finger along the lines as she slowly read the words out. Tifa looked at it for a moment.  
"Oh, yeah. I can read it now. Are they math problems?"  
Cairo laughed. "Hell yeah. They're hard ones, too."  
Aeris turned to Red XIII. "Red XIII, what is the answer to this?"  
Red XIII looked at it and laughed. "What makes you think that I know the answer to those?"  
Aeris looked at him and sighed. He nodded  
"All right. Yes, I can work out the answer to these. Just give me a moment."  
Red XIII sat down and looked at the questions. He thought for a moment and looked at Aeris.  
"They're not just math problems, the answers are directions."  
Cairo turned to him. She shrugged. "What?"  
Red XIII shook his head. "The answers are Latitude and Longitude."  
Reed shrugged. "Yeah, well, that's all fine and dandy, but I don't know how I'm going to work this out."  
He looked up as Scarlet called out.   
"Got it."  
Cloud glanced up as she strode over. "What does it say?"  
Scarlet handed him a piece of paper and shrugged.  
"Not much. In fact, all it's really saying, is something about secrets, and basically teasing us."  
Slowly, Reed managed to decode the third puzzle. He turned to Yuffie, who was hanging over his shoulder.  
"That wasn't as hard as it looked."  
Yuffie grinned and read it. "More directions?"  
Reed shrugged. Yuffie took the solution and ran over to Cloud with it. Reed looked over at Cait Sith. He was sitting on the deck next to Elena, writing down something. He turned to her.  
"So that's how it's done."  
Reed stood up as Elena had a closer look at the page.  
"That's how what's done/"  
Cait Sith put his paw up. "Hold on, okay, finished. Wow. that's complicated."  
Reed looked at it. "What's that about a sequence?"  
Cait Sith shrugged as Elena took the last solution over to Cloud.  
"Eveva's very complicated. How she comes up with this stuff is beyond my mental capacity. Looks like all the stupid things she's done, she was just playing dumb."  
Cloud gathered their attention. "All right, we have enough to go on now. Cid, set the course for the Round Island."  
  
The high ridges surrounded a thick forest on the inside of the Round Island. The Highwind landed on a flat, hectare-sized area just above the forest, on the mountainside. They all left the ship and assembled on the ground. Cloud turned to Cairo.  
"Are you familiar with this place?"  
Cairo stepped back and shook her head.  
"Should I be?"  
Cid shrugged. "That's great. Sorry Cloud, but this is getting a little drawn in for me. I'll stay here and mind the ship if it's all right with you."  
Cloud nodded and turned back to the others. "Okay. We all have to be careful. The furthest we've been into this island is the materia cave. Eveva said something about a Secret City. So everyone, stick together."  
Tifa looked around at everyone.  
"What about the Round Cave? Where is that?"  
Cloud sighed. "The Round Cave is the materia cave. Now come on. The longer we take, the less likely we are to catch Eveva."  
They all nodded and walked off, leaving Cid with the highwind. Cait Sith looked around nervously.   
"I wonder what's in those caves."  
Shortly after, they reached the Round Cave. Inside, Tifa pointed out a huge rock with 12 symbols on it, like Eveva had described in one of the clues. Cloud took out the directions on which symbols to hit, and punched in a 5 symbol code. A couple of seconds after, the rock slid aside, revealing a long, dark tunnel. Reno switched on his rod, and the tip flared up brightly, like a torch. Cloud looked at him and grinned.  
"Not bad."  
Reno smiled and shrugged, leading the way into the passageway. The tunnel wound down and around, and along the way, there were many paintings and carvings on the walls. Suddenly, the tunnel opened out into a huge cave, with massive pillars guiding the tree roots from above to the ground below. It was a great, crumbling city, the buildings were run-down, and the statues were collapsed and worn. As they entered, they were so distracted by the city around them, that none of them thought about the dangers that might lurk in the shadows. And within seconds of leaving the tunnel entrance, they were surrounded and attacked. Huge numbers of lizard-like creatures and Griffins cut off all of their escape routes. Cloud drew his sword, and the others also took out their weapons. The monsters slipped between them, attempting to separate them into smaller groups, terminating the safety in numbers strategy. Cloud brought his sword down on the head of one of the lizards, and it backed up, snarling, but as it did, more of them attacked. Hitting the nearest creature along the side of the head, his sword cut deep, slicing the entire left side of it's face off, exposing the skull beneath. The monster screeched and collapsed. Cairo, Elena amd Reno were backed in together, with the savage and bloodthirsty beasts encircling them. Elena backed up agaist Cairo and quickly glanced at Reno, trying not to take her eyes off the advancing monsters.  
"Reno. What are we going to do?"  
Reno shook his head. "I don't know."  
Cairo looked around quickly. "At times like this, I always say, probably the most important thing is when things get really bad, and the world looks it's darkest, you just have to through up your hands and say; Well, all right. Cos it's probably gonna' get a hell of a whole lot worse."  
Reno and Elena looked up at her stragely. Elena turned back to the monsters.  
"Gee, thanks Cairo, you sure do know how to make someone feel better."  
Aeris and Tifa fought back to back, protecting each other.  
"Cloud!" Tifa called out, "Cloud! Can you hear me?"  
"Yeah!" Cloud called back.   
Cloud slammed a monster to his left and darted out of the circle of attackers. Aeris and Tifa also found a gap in the monsters attacks, and ran out, meeting up with Cloud. Tifa leaned on his shoulder, trying to catch her breath.  
"All's we're doing is deterring them. They just keep coming back. Do you think Eveva made it this far?"  
Cloud didn't have time to answer her question, as a Griffin pounced him, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground. Tifa tried to hit it, but another Griffin drove her to the side, out of reach of her dear friend. The Griffin pinning Cloud to the ground drew it's head back to strike him, when suddenly it screeched, and blood poured out of it's clashing beak. Aeris pulled back, withdrawing her rod from where it was sticking through it's throat. The Griffin shuddered and went limp, and Cloud managed to push it aside.  
"Thanks Aeris. Good timing."  
She nodded and looked around, only just noticing that the monsters had pulled back. They now stood, surrounded by the screeching and squealing animals. Cloud put his hand on Tifa's arm.  
"What's going on?"  
Tifa shook her head. "I don't know."  
  
The figure hiding in the darkness, on the stone snake-dragon's head far above the fray below her, raised her binoculars to take another look at the situation of the group of people, trapped by the monsters. The statue was coiled around one of the pillars, deep into the city.  
"They've pulled back."  
"That means that they are gathering themselves, so that they can attack in full force."  
A second figure came up behind the first, also shielded by the lack of light. The first person looked up at her companion.  
"Want to go have some fun?"  
The other thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. As soon as he did, the eye of the dragon glowed, and it's colour changed, revealing that it wasn't a statue, but instead was a real dragon, and it's colour restored as it lowered the two to the ground. The first figure turned back to the other.  
"Come on."  
  
Yuffie backed away from the line of monsters.  
"Cloud, do you think Eveva knew that we'd be attacked?"  
Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe they attacked her too."  
Elena took out a grenade. "Should we start?"  
Reno looked at her. "No. Just be ready."  
One of the bigger monsters roared, and suddenly they all attacked again. There was an explosion of sparks as Reno electrocuted one of the creatures. The ferocious animals drove them all in together, while attacking them. Red XIII turned to Tseng.  
"We're losing!"  
Tseng backed up. "I know. There is no way to escape."  
One of the lizard-creatures reared up, and was about to dive in on Reno, when out of nowhere, a huge flash erupted around it, and it collapsed, charred to death. Reno glanced around, to see if he could locate it's source. The monsters attacked around them, when suddenly they began to disperse, and become frenzied. Reed loaded another arrow into his crossbow and fired it at a monster that was just about to attack Scarlet. It shot through it's eye, spilling it's brains out the other side of it's head. Scarlet looked away. Before she could thank Reed, another creature attacked. But as soon as it made a move for her, it stopped, and turned to the side as a huge blade pierced it's side, and as it did, the monster collapsed. As soon as this happened, chaos began amongst them. Several of the monsters exploded in bursts of light. Cloud looked around.  
"What's happening?"  
He spun around and clashed swords with someone.  
"Who-"  
The figure grinned at him. Cloud gasped.  
"You!? What are you doing here?"  
Sephiroth laughed. "Having some fun."  
"You're lucky we have a situation here. I'd watch your back."  
Sephiroth motioned over Cloud's shoulder. "I'd watch yours."  
Cloud turned quickly to see a Griffin charge him.  
"What is it with these Griffins!?"  
Just as it was about to hit him, a spike shot up through it's head. The Griffin squealed in pain, then shuddered and died.   
"Ha!"  
Suddenly the Griffin was thrown back, and Eveva stood up and grinned.  
"Hello, fancy meeting you here."  
Cloud looked at her, confused. "You, how, I don't,"  
Eveva giggled. "I don't know about any of that, but, no worry. Gaishiiaa!"  
The huge snake-dragon lept into the center of them, curving gracefully but menacingly as it attacked the monsters again and again, until all that was left was the dismembered bodies of the creatures. Eveva smiled as Gaishiiaa ran past, purposefully hitting one of her huge antlers on the ground, as she ran past Eveva, so that she could catch on. Sephiroth also jumped up onto the dragon. As Gaishiiaa left, Eveva dropped a card. It landed at Cloud's feet and he picked it up, shaking his head.  
"She tricked us. She may not have caused the attack, but she knew that it would happen. She planned around it. The city, the monsters, her entrance. She made fools of us."  
Tifa turned to him, holding her arm where one of the monsters had scratched her.  
"How do you know that?"  
Cloud didn't turn around, but held up the card over his shoulder so that she could see.  
"What else would a Joker mean."  
  
"Where did they go?"  
Reno looked around the dark cave in which the city was built.  
"No, I think a better question is why." He turned to look at Tifa. "Why did she do it."  
Tifa sighed and looked at the ground. "I thought we were her friends."  
Elena nodded. "But I don't think that she's turned on us. Maybe she just got upset. I know that she wouldn't do this for a reason."  
Reno shook his head. "You sure do have faith in her."  
Elena looked up at him. "Of course I do. Since when has she been wrong? Come on Reno. You've known her for 6 years. I've only known her for a little less than two. Do you really think that she would just turn on us for no reason? You know her better than anyone else here does. What do you think?"  
Reno shrugged. "I really don't know. She's never done anything like this before."  
Elena sighed and leaned on his shoulder. Tifa turned to Cloud.  
"What about you? What do you think?"  
Cloud shrugged. "I don't know what to think. I mean, maybe Elena's right. Maybe there is some ultimate reason for all this." He turned to her. "Which way did they go, anyway?"  
Tifa pointed towards the back of the cave, which was shrouded in darkness.  
Cloud was about to look this action over, when he noticed Tifa's arm.  
"Tifa, what happened?"  
Tifa rubbed her arm. "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."  
Cloud looked at her. "No, I don't think so. Come on."  
Tifa unwillingly followed Cloud back to the others. Reno turned to Elena.  
"Come on. If we stay here, we're easy targets. Let's go join everyone else."  
"Oh, all right."  
They both walked down to the others. Aeris was bandaging Tifa's arm. She smiled and thanked her. Cloud turned to Scarlet.  
"Did you do that thing that you were going to do?"  
Scarlet nodded. "There's a switch on the handle."  
Cloud picked up his sword. "Thanks."  
Reno stopped Cloud as he walked over to Tifa and Aeris.  
"I think there's another way out of this place. We're going to go look for it."  
Cloud looked at him and motioned over his shoulder.  
"What's wrong with the way we came in?"  
Reno looked at him strangely. "Turn around."  
Cloud turned around and looked towards the entrance.  
"Oh. I see."  
They were deep into the city, out of sight of the entrance, but, between them and the way out, another group of monsters, blocking the way. Cloud turned back to Reno.  
"Yeah, I see. I'll go with you."  
Reno nodded. Scarlet and Tseng walked up. Scarlet sighed.  
"Okay. Let's go."  
  
"Looks like that could be a tunnel, but I can't see properly."  
Reno climbed up higher over the rocks. Elena looked up.  
"I swear, Reno, forget me having a death wish, how many times today have you done that?"  
Reno just laughed.   
"Be careful," she called after him in exasperation, "Because rocks aren't soft!"  
Reno grabbed the edge. "Yeah, it's a tunnel. Leads up. Climb isn't that steep. They must've gone this way."  
He looked down and laughed. "What's the bet that if I yelled into this thing, the others could hear me?"  
Scarlet looked up. "And what's the bet that the monsters would hear you too?"  
Cloud looked around. "I'll go get them."  
As soon as he left, the others climbed up after Reno. He reached down and helped them up. Reno sat on the edge of the tunnel and watched as the others made their way through the city. Reno stood up and waved. Elena leaned over his shoulder and looked at him.  
"Reno, what's wrong with you today?"  
He turned to her. "What?"  
Elena laughed. "Oh, don't worry."  
Shortly after, they were all assembled in the tunnel. Barrett looked up.  
"Well, ain't gonna be gettin' anywhere just standin' here."  
Cloud nodded. "Yes, I don't think we need to be down here anymore."  
  
Eveva yawned and leaned against a rock. Gaishiiaa had disappeared into nowhere, Sephiroth had gone to check something out in the forest, 'Just like him,' she thought, and they had both left her here, on the top of the island rim, with the forest down one side, and the raging ocean down the other, with nothing to do. She was about to yawn again, when she heard something behind her. Springing to her feet, she got out of the way just before a sword came down where she had been sitting. Darting away, she spun around to see Saharus pull his sword out of the ground. He sniggered at her.  
"Well, well. Are you surprised to see me?"  
Eveva glared at him. "How did you get here?" she snarled.  
Saharus stood up. "Don't you know? We stowed away on the Highwind. Rufus is headed this direction at this very moment."  
He poised his sword and charged her. Eveva pulled up her staff and blocked him. Saharus pushed her away, throwing her off balance. She stumbled back, and he brought his sword down. Eveva ducked away as best she could, but the blade hit her. Eveva jumped back, and touched her cheek. Angered at the sight of blood, she raced at Saharus, who automatically blocked her. He took out a materia and concentrated on it.  
"Ultima."  
Eveva covered her face as the magic hit, slamming her against a rock. She tried to get back up, but couldn't. Saharus walked up to her. He lifted his sword, ready to finish her, when he was startled by a voice. He turned to see Cloud and his friends run up over the rise. They all gathered behind Cloud. He rose his sword.  
"Get away from her."  
Saharus grinned. Meanwhile, Scarlet turned to Reno.  
"Do you have a rubber band?"  
Cloud and Saharus were arguing about something off to her left, but she wasn't taking any notice. Reno and Elena looked at her strangely.  
"Why would I have a rubber band?"  
Scarlet looked at Saharus, then back to Reno.  
"Well, do you?"  
Reno shook his head. Elena thought for a moment.  
"Scarlet, don't you have one?"  
Scarlet turned to her, all the while, keeping her voice down.  
"What?"  
Elena pointed to her.  
"Your hair elastic."  
Scarlet nodded. "Oh, that's right."  
She took her hair out, and ducked down behind Reno. Elena had to cover a smile. Reno looked down at her.  
"What are you doing?"   
Scarlet came back up with a rather large stone. Loading it into the elastic, she aimed it at Saharus' head. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sephiroth appeared on a rock behind Saharus. Cloud looked up.  
"Sephiroth."  
Scarlet looked up. "Where?"   
But as she did, she lost aim and let go of the stone. The rock shot forward and hit Saharus in the groin. He shuddered and fell to his knees. Elena and Reno burst into hysterics, and Scarlet gasped in shock, also laughing, however. Elena tried to stop herself and Reno from laughing, because it really wasn't the occasion for it. Sephiroth jumped down and checked Eveva, before approaching Saharus, who by now had gotten back to his feet. He turned around, slightly surprised by Sephiroth's sudden appearance. He grinned. While Saharus' back was turned, Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Scarlet, Reno and Elena ran over to Eveva's side. Saharus bowed slightly in front of Sephiroth. Then he looked up.  
"Well, Sephiroth. Do you like what I have done?"  
Sephiroth looked down on him the same way he looked down on most others. 'Was I like this?' He took a breath before stating his opinion.  
"Saharus. You have almost killed my sister, and have threatened her friends. These, I warn you, are actions of a grudge. A grudge against me cost me my life, twice." He quickly glanced at Cloud before continuing. "I have but one thing to say to you." He drew his sword. "But who needs words?"  
He pulled his sword back and slashed Saharus, throwing him back, over the right side of the rim, crashing over the rocks into the forest below. Cloud looked up sharply.  
"I don't believe what I just saw! Why did you do that?"  
Sephiroth turned to face him. "Why not?"  
Tifa looked up, confused. "But, I mean, killing a clone of yours, isn't it like killing part of yourself?"  
Eveva opened her eyes and looked up at her.   
"Oh, Tifa. Don't you believe that a person can change? I'm sure you've seen it many a time in your life, don't you believe it can happen?"  
Tifa looked down. "Eveva."  
Eveva looked up at her. "Do you understand?"  
"Understand what?"  
"The meaning of it all."  
"Meaning of what?"  
"The wall carvings, the paintings, the city. Did you take notice?"  
Tifa shook her head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about."  
She smiled. "I'm not surprised. You didn't read the carvings?"  
Cloud shook his head. "We couldn't read the carvings."  
Eveva laughed coldly. "If you could read my messages, you'd be able to read the carvings."  
Reno, who up until now had his back turned to them, spun around to face them all.  
"Eveva, this isn't like you. Can you explain it to us?"  
She shook her head. "There's no need. Rufus is heading this way right now. He and his two lap-dogs stowed away on board the Highwind." She took a deep breath. "I see that you cared enough about me to follow me this far, I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble."  
Sephiroth shook his head and hesitantly looked at Cloud.  
"What are you going to do?"  
Cloud was about to answer, when a shot rang out above their heads. He turned to see Rufus standing behind him. Rufus grinned.  
"Well. Poor Eveva. What a nasty blow that must've been. How awful." He turned to Cloud. "You know, Cloud, if you were to surrender, I could do something for her."  
Cloud bowed his head and looked back at the others. Eveva shook her head.  
"No, don't. I've caused enough trouble. Cloud," she turned to him, "Kill the bastard."  
Cloud turned back to Rufus and drew his sword. Rufus shrugged.  
"Oh well." He lifted his shotgun. "If you wont surrender, I guess I'll have to kill you."  
Cloud glanced over at Scarlet, who nodded. Cloud swung his sword at Rufus, who dodged it and tried to hit Cloud with the end of his gun. Cloud ducked around it, and brought his sword down against Rufus' arm. Rufus backed up, holding his arm, where a red stain spread across his sleeve. Rufus gritted his teeth and glared at Cloud.  
"You'll pay for that," he growled, and charged at Cloud, striking him on the shoulder with a crack. Cloud dropped back, wincing. He rose his sword and struck out with it. Continuously they exchanged blows, until Cloud had backed Rufus out onto a jutt, rising up, high above the surging ocean below. With a burst of energy, Cloud hit the shotgun out of Rufus' hand. Cloud swung his sword above his head and brought it down in front of Rufus. He put his hands up.  
"Okay. You win." He glared at Cloud menacingly.  
Cloud put his head to the side smugly, clicking a switch on the handle of his sword. The side if the blade slid out, and a metal pipe was connected to the inside of it. Rufus looked up at him quickly.  
"A gun?"  
Cloud grinned. "Damn strait. You're pretty observant, Rufus. I guess you chose the wrong side to fight for."  
Rufus shook his head. "Scarlet. Well, Cloud. What have you got to say for yourself now? You have me at a point of disadvantage. Maybe we could work something out?"  
Cloud put his finger on a hidden trigger.  
"Screw you, asshole."  
He pulled the trigger. There was a crack, and Rufus stumbled back, tripping over the edge, and crashing into the deadly water below. Cloud shuddered to his knees, and put a hand on his shoulder. Tifa ran over.  
"Cloud! Are you all right?"  
Cloud nodded quickly. Tifa put a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled back quickly, wincing. Tifa pulled her hand back.  
"Oh, I'm sorry Cloud. Did I hurt you?"  
Cloud stood up. "Dammit."  
He walked slowly back over to them. Scarlet strode over.  
"Cloud! That was magnificent!"  
He nodded. "Thanks for what you did with the gun. I appreciate it."  
Tifa sighed at him. "Cloud."  
He turned to her.  
"Are you all right?"  
Cloud kept his hand on his shoulder. "I think He must have broken my shoulder blade."  
Tifa nodded. "Maybe."  
Cloud looked past her at Eveva. "How is she?"  
Tifa smiled. "I think she'll be all right. Let's go back to the airship."  
Reno stood over Eveva and looked up at them.  
"Can you guys come here a minute?"  
Cloud and Tifa walked over. Eveva looked up at them.   
"Professor Whitehall is still on the island. Rufus may be dead, but Whitehall controls Weapon. That's his advantage."  
Cloud shook his head. "I can't fight anymore. I used all my remaining energy to beat Rufus."  
Eveva smiled. "Yes. Good job. But there's an easier way. If you can lure him into the city, the monsters will kill him. But, getting him down there, you'll have to grasp his scientific curiosity."  
Cloud turned to Yuffie. She nodded.  
"Yeah. I'll do it."  
Red XIII and Cait Sith went to her side.  
"We'll go with you," Cait Sith said proudly. Yuffie looked at them.  
"Furballs?"  
Red XIII nodded. Cait Sith grinned.  
"I think it's time I got over my cowardice."  
Cloud nodded. "We'll meet you back at the airship. Be careful."  
Yuffie, Red XIII and Cait Sith ran off, into the forest. Cloud turned and looked at Sephiroth. He sighed and looked down at Eveva. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Tifa walked up to him.  
"Cloud?"  
He looked at her.  
"What are you going to do?"  
Cloud turned around. "I don't know what to do," he began quietly, so that the others couldn't hear. "He's my worst enemy, but my friend's brother. What should I do?"  
Tifa shook her head. "What would Eveva say?"  
Cloud sighed. "She'd say, let it go."  
Tifa thought for a moment. "Maybe she'd be right. I have lost many things because of Sephiroth, but, I think that it's over."  
Cloud looked at her. "What?"  
"Well, think about it," she said quickly, "Maybe this all led up to one thing, just like you said. Maybe there is one ultimate reason. maybe she wanted you to let go of it from the start. Eveva doesn't keep grudges, and she doesn't like the grudges that people keep."  
Cloud shook his head. "I can't think right now. I need some time to think." He turned to Tifa. "You've been right about so many things so far. I'll let you decide for now."  
She turned to the others. "Eveva wins this time, but Cloud hasn't made up his mind yet. For now, we improvise."  
  
"So how're we going to grasp his scientific curiosity?"  
Red XIII shrugged. He turned to Cait Sith.  
"Do you have any ideas?"  
Cait Sith thought for a moment. "Well, we could pretend to surrender, tell him that Cloud and the others are down in the city, and lure him down there that way."  
Red XIII sighed. "Not like I like the idea, but, let's give it a try anyway.  
Yuffie grinned. "Yeah. And here he comes now."  
Whitehall walked briskly down the path towards them.  
"You. What are you doing here?"  
Cait Sith put his hands up. "Surrendering."  
Whitehall looked at them suspiciously.   
"Unconditionally?"  
Yuffie nodded. "Cloud and the others are hiding in an Secret City below the forest floor.  
Whitehall stared at them. "Secret City you say? I would like to see that."  
Red XIII turned around. "Well, I guess we could take you there."  
The three led the Professor to the Round Cave, and Yuffie punched in the code on the stone. The door opened, and they took the tunnel into the city. When they got there, Whitehall pushed past them and walked into the city. He looked around, impressed.  
"Beautiful. Why would anyone abandon a city like this?"  
Yuffie, Red XIII and Cait Sith backed up, into the tunnel.  
"Because of the monsters," Yuffie said, apprehensively.   
Whitehall turned to see a group of snarling beasts surrounding him. In a blink of an eye, they attacked, and Whitehall disappeared under a teeming sea of claws and snapping jaws, and he screamed for a moment, and was silenced, as the savage beasts tore him limb from limb. Yuffie put a hand over her mouth, and she ran a little way up the tunnel. Red XIII shook his head.  
"My goodness. I'm glad we can fight. That could have been us when we first came down here."  
Cait Sith nodded. "That's terrible. I've never seen anything like that ever before."  
Yuffie swallowed and turned to them both, her face pale.   
"I don't feel too good," she said quietly, "that was so- so- , oh, man. I never want to see anything like that again! Now I know why the people who lived here left."  
  
Eveva sat in her room, holding an ice pack to her head. She looked up as Cloud and Tifa entered the room. Tifa smiled.  
"How're you feeling?"  
Eveva half-smiled back. "I've got one hell of a headspin."  
Tifa laughed. "I would too if I was thrown back against a rock like that."  
Eveva nodded slowly and closed her eyes. "Did Gaishiiaa say anything?"  
Cloud thought for a moment. "yeah. She said something about being allowed to stay here, on the island."  
Eveva looked up at him. "You're pretty lucky then, you know."  
Tifa turned to her, unsure. "What does that mean?"  
Eveva smiled. "It's simple. This place where you have landed used to be a town, a suburb of the city below. Because the people here didn't have permission to stay here, Gaishiiaa turned them all into monsters of the darkness, cursed to live in the darkened city for eternity. After Gaishiiaa had done this, she vaporized the town. She has offered to rebuild it, so that you can stay here, on the condition that you don't open the door to the City ever."  
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "That certainly explains a lot. I guess we'll think about it. I'll have to talk to everyone else first though."  
She laughed. "Don't you think that they would agree? This place is beautiful, and would attract tourists like nobody's business."  
Tifa thought for a moment. "Well, she does have a point, you know. But why did Gaishiiaa turn the people into monsters? Why did they need her permission?"  
Eveva sighed. "She had every right to. This is Gaishiiaa's island."  
  
Cloud looked up at Gaishiiaa and nodded. "Thanks. And I promise. We wont even mention the Round Cave again."  
Gaishiiaa laughed. "Good luck Cloud. I wish you well. By the way, what will you name the town? The original inhabitants called it Malibu, but it is your town, you can call it what you will."  
Cloud shrugged. "Well, we'll stick with Malibu then."  
Eveva nodded. "We'll come by some time."  
Cairo looked at her. "Aren't you stayin'?"  
Eveva glanced up at Sephiroth. "No, I think someone has a few things to set right. We'll be back some day."  
Cloud nodded. "Okay then. Until we meet again."  
The three nodded. Eveva and Sephiroth climbed up onto Gaishiiaa's head, and as Gaishiiaa rose up to her tall height, Eveva stood up and held up a card. As Gaishiiaa turned to leave, Eveva dropped it down at Cloud's feet. The giant snake-dragon moved quickly up the high-ridged walls surrounding the island, and then over them, out of sight. Cloud picked up the card and smiled.  
"Ace of Hearts."  
Tifa looked away and thought for a moment. Then she sighed.  
"Cloud, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you for some time now."  
He looked at her. "And what's that?"  
They walked off into town.  
"Well, it's really hard to say..........."  
  
  
  
EPILOGUE  
  
1 YEAR LATER  
  
The streets of Malibu were usually busy, but tonight they were a lot more crowded than they usually were. Because it had now been one year since Malibu had been founded, but officially, if you counted how long it had been since the original Malibu had been built, it would have been a hundred years.   
Tifa walked down the street and caught sight of Yuffie and Cait Sith outside one of the stalls. She ran over to them.  
"Hey you two."  
Yuffie looked up and smiled. "Hi Tifa."  
"You wouldn't happen to have seen Cloud tonight would you?"  
Yuffie shook her head. "Nope. Sorry. He doesn't tell anyone where he's going, I don't know why you married him."  
Cait Sith yawned. "I saw him this morning. Besides. He'll probably be back soon, maybe he just went into the office to escape the noise. That music is a bit loud. But, who cares. Hey. It's a festival. And also. He has to be back, the fireworks will be starting soon."  
Tifa nodded. "Maybe you're right."  
Yuffie nodded sarcastically. "Well, Cloud isn't exactly the ideal party animal, you know."   
Tifa smiled. "Okay, enough Yuffie. Thanks."  
She ran down the road and into a small building.  
"Cloud?"  
Cloud looked up from his desk.  
"Oh, hi Tifa."  
Tifa grinned. "Can you start leaving notes? You didn't tell me you we're going anywhere."  
He shrugged. "Sorry, I had to do this, last minute."  
Tifa nodded. She turned around as the door opened and Aeris walked in.  
"Sorry to disturb you two, but, maybe you should come here."  
She led them out into the crowded street, and they followed her down past the stalls and into a less busy section of the street. There was a woman in a semi-tight, but long black and white dress, with a long, black coat, which had feathers around the collar, wrists and bottom, and a very wide hat, which covered her face, standing under one of the street lamps. Aeris pointed to her.  
"Mystery lady over there wants to talk to you two."  
Tifa looked at the woman, then at Aeris.   
Quietly, she said, "Any idea who she is?"  
Aeris shook her head. "Can't see her face. All I know is that she said she needs to see you, and that it's very urgent."  
Cloud looked over, concerned. The woman had her back turned to them, and the lamp light cast eerie shadows over her, but her wide, blackish-red velvet hat utilized the dim light, and completely blacked out her face. She was unrecognizable to any of them. He turned to the two at his side.  
"Well, let's go over and see if we can find out more."  
As he and Tifa approached, the woman turned slightly, looking at them out of the corner of her eye. When she saw who they were, she turned slowly, her face well-hidden under the shadow of her hat. Cloud nodded towards her.   
"You wanted to speak to us?"  
The woman lowered her head a bit, darkening her face even more, should they manage to make her out.  
"Yes," she said in quiet voice, "I bring you a message of great importance."  
Tifa thought for a moment and looked at the woman. Why did that voice sound so familiar?   
Cloud nodded. "Go ahead."  
The woman glanced over her shoulder, apparently worried for some reason.   
"There is a problem. You remember a while ago, the Shinra threatened the life of the planet with their reactors."  
Cloud nodded. "Yes. AVALANCHE stopped them, what's this about?"  
She glanced around again, very nervous.  
"When the planet was going through this, it cried out. Two planet destroying mega summons have heard the call now that they are no longer needed and are approaching the planet. The Circle have sent me to ask of you to once again put your lives on hold to save the planet, for hopefully the last time."  
Cloud turned to Tifa, shocked. Tifa shook her head, thinking hard about why this woman's voice sounded so familiar. Cloud looked back to the lady.  
"Why us? And who is the Circle?"  
"The Circle are the summons residing on this planet. You have saved the planet before. I recommended you."  
Cloud now shared Tifa's suspicion.  
"Who are you?"  
The woman looked up slightly, however, still hiding her face in the shadows. She shook her head.   
"For my safety and yours, I think it's best you do not know."  
She picked up Cloud's hand.   
"But however, this time you will have no advantages, except the Circle's blessing. If you should need them, just hold this and call them."  
She pushed something gold into his hand and backed up, holding the brim of her hat. She glanced over her shoulder again, and looked back at them, backing out of the light and into the shadows.  
"Till we meet again."  
With that she ran off, vanishing from sight. Cloud looked at the item she had given him. It was a golden amulet of a curling snake dragon with a ruby eye, on a long gold chain. He looked up in the direction the woman had run off. He turned to Tifa.  
"I think I know who that was."  
He turned around and walked away, followed by Tifa and Aeris. They didn't know, but the woman still stood, a little way back, watching them. She shook her head, her long, blonde hair falling over her shoulders in the darkness. She turned to walk away, looking over her shoulder for a moment.  
"And we will meet again."  
  
  
The End  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
a and looked up at them.  
"Can you guys come here a minute?"  
Cloud and Tifa walked over. Eveva looked up at 


End file.
